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|event_start = Charter Enacted
|event_start = Charter Enacted
|year_start = 1692
|year_start = 2008
|event_end = [[United States Declaration of Independence|Independence]]
|event_end = [[United States Declaration of Independence|Independence]]
|year_end = 1776
|year_end = 1776

Revision as of 17:37, 27 February 2008

Province of Massachusetts Bay
2008–1776
A map of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
A map of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
StatusBritish colony
CapitalBoston
Common languagesEnglish
GovernmentConstitutional monarchy
King 
• 1664-1685
Charles II
• 1769-1776
George III
Royal Governor 
• 1629-1630
John Endicott
• 1774-1775
Thomas Gage
LegislatureGeneral Court
History 
• Charter Enacted
2008
July 4, 1776 1776
• End of the Revolutionary War
1783
CurrencyPound sterling, Spanish dollar
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Plymouth Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts
Nova Scotia

The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony organized October 7, 1691 in North America by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. The charter was enacted May 14, 1692 and included Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, the Province of Maine and what is now Nova Scotia. (Nova Scotia was separated in 1696, and became the Province of Nova Scotia in 1713.) The Province of New Hampshire gained its independence from Massachusetts Bay at the time of the creation of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

The name Massachusetts comes from the Massachusett, an Algonquian tribe. The name has been translated as "at the great hill," "at the place of large hills," or "at the range of hills," with reference to the Blue Hills, or in particular, Great Blue Hill.

From 1691, the history of the Province of Massachusetts Bay is usually considered to be the same as that of Massachusetts. The 1691 "William and Mary Charter" was amended by King George I's "Explanatory Charter" which expanded on the original rights granted to the colony.

The Province of Massachusetts Bay existed until approximately October 7, 1774 when the General Court of Massachusetts established the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in response to the tightening control of the crown, and as a preceding act to the revolt of the American Revolutionary War.

The Constitution or Form of Government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was agreed upon in Cambridge in October 1779 and adopted by the delegates nine months later in June 1780 to go into effect "the last Wednesday of October next".

See also