Massachusetts history and symbols

Massachusetts history and symbols
Excavations in Massachusetts reveal that the earliest human inhabitants arrived about 3,000 years ago. European explorers began roving the coast as early as the 11th century. In 1497 and 1498, John Cabot led the explorations upon which England based her original claim to North America. In 1620, the Pilgrims, seeking religious freedom, made a brief stop in what later became Provincetown before settling in Plymouth on land belonging to Wampanoag Chief Massasoit. Massasoit ratified the first New England treaty between Europeans and Native Americans in December of 1620.

In 1629, a royal charter was granted to the Massachusetts Bay Company to promote the settlement of the territory and to govern the colonies. Various forms of increasingly repressive British rule culminated in the first battle of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775, at Lexington and Concord.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts became the sixth state to join the new independent union in 1788. It was the first state to write and adopt a constitution (1780), which served as a model for the U.S. Constitution. The Massachusetts Constitution is the oldest still in use in the world.

Name
The state takes its name from the Massachuset tribe of Native Americans. The name has been translated as “at or about the Great Hill,” “great mountain place,” or “large hill place,” among other translations.

Capital
Boston, established in 1630, has been the capital of Massachusetts since its founding. It is also the largest city in New England.

State House
The central portion of the State House was designed by Charles Bulfinch (a former Boston selectman) and completed in 1798 after three years of construction. The dome was covered with copper by Paul Revere & Sons in 1802, and has been covered in 23-karat gold leaf since the 1870s. A yellow brick North Annex was added to the State House in 1895, and a marble wing was added to each side in 1917. The site of the building, near the summit of Beacon Hill, Boston’s highest ground, was formerly John Hancock’s cow pasture.

The State House is home to the governor’s office and the Legislature, which comprises a 40-member Senate and a 160-member House of Representatives.

State motto
Ense Petit Placidam Sub Libertate Quietem. Translation: By the Sword We Seek Peace, But Peace Only Under Liberty. The motto was written about 1659 and is attributed to English patriot Algernon Sydney.

State heroine
Deborah Samson, who assumed a male identity in order to fight in the Revolutionary War.

State seal
The state seal of Massachusetts has remained essentially the same since 1780, though details changed and were standardized in 1898. The arms, as on the state flag, include a crest (an arm holding a sword) and a ribbon with the state motto.

State flag
A white rectangular field bears on either side a representation of the arms of the commonwealth, except that the star is white. State law also prescribes a naval and maritime flag, which bears a pine tree rather than the state seal, and a governor’s flag, which is triangular.

State nicknames
Bay State, Old Bay State, Pilgrim State, Puritan State, Old Colony State, Baked Bean State

State symbols
Song: “All Hail to Massachusetts,” by Arthur J. Marsh (1981)
Poem: “The Blue Hills of Massachusetts,” by Katherine E. Mullen (1981)
Bird: Chickadee (1941)
Flower: Mayflower (1918)
Tree: American elm (1941)
Fish: Cod
* The year in parentheses is when the item was designated a state symbol.

Sources: “State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols: A Historical Guide,” by Benjamin F. Shearer and Barbara S. Shearer, 1985 Greenwood Press; “The Massachusetts State House” and “The Arms and Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” published by the Office of Secretary of State; and “The Arms and Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” published by the Office of Secretary of State.