HISTORICAL WALKING TOURS | BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
  • Freedom Trail Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Tour
    • Boston Civil War Tour
    • The Kennedy Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Lesson Plan
    • Paul Revere's Row to Charlestown 4/18/1775
    • Virtual Tour of the Massachusetts State House
    • The Boston Massacre per the Pennsylvania Gazette
    • Paul Revere Lesson Plan
  • Revere Bells Index
    • The Stickney Revere Bell Listings of 1976
    • Paul Revere Bell of Beverly
    • Revere Bells in Boston >
      • Paul Revere Bell Old South Meeting House
    • California's 2 Paul Revere Bells
    • Paul Revere & Son's Bell Westborough Massachusetts
    • Falmouth, Massachusetts
    • Revere Bell Fredericksburg VA
    • Revere Bell Hampton NH
    • First Parish Church of Kennebunk
    • Revere Bells in Maine
    • Revere Bell in Mansfield
    • Revere Bell of Michigan
    • Revere Salem Mass Bell
    • Roxbury First Unitariarn Universalist Church and their Revere Bell
    • Revere & Son Bell, Savannah Georgia
    • Singapore Revere Bell
    • Tuscaloosa Bell >
      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
      • Samuel St John Jr Estate Genealogy
      • Authenticating the Revere Tuscaloosa Bell
      • Joshua B Leavens Last Will and Testament
      • 20th Century Tuscaloosa bell
    • Revere Bells Lost in Time
    • Revere Bells Washington DC
    • Revere Bell in Wakefield, Mass
    • Revere Bells Woodstock VT
  • Bostonians
    • Edward F Alexander of The Harvard 20th Civil War Regiment
    • Polly Baker
    • John Wilkes Booth
    • The Mad Hatter, Thomas, Boston Corbett who Killed John Wilkes Booth
    • Richard-Henry-Dana-Jr
    • James Franklin
    • Benjamin Harris of Publick Occurrences
    • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
    • William Lloyd Garrison
    • USS Thomas Hudner DDG116
    • Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere
    • Amos Lincoln
    • King Philip
    • Mayor's of Boston
    • Mum Bett & Theodore Sedgwick
    • James Otis
    • Paul Joseph Revere
    • John Rowe >
      • John Rowe's Diary Entries
      • John Rowe's Dinner Party
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
    • Rachel Wall , Pirate
    • Paul Revere the Coroner of Boston
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
    • Dr. Joseph Warren's Dedication
  • History Blog
  • Lilja's of Natick
    • Lilja Brothers Military History
    • Lilja's Family Album
    • Memorials and Tributes to the Five Lilja Brothers
    • Lilja Family Tree
    • Lilja Historical Family Tree Documents
    • Lilja References
  • Collage of Boston
    • 4th of July Parade, Bristol RI
    • Boston Harbor
    • The Customs House
    • Forest Hills Cemetery
    • Georges Island
    • Nonviolent Monument to Peace - Sherborn
    • The Battle Road
    • Skate bike and scooter park
    • Cassin Young & USS Cassin Young
    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Roxbury Standpipe on Fort Hill
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park

     These Colonist were a match for Parliament

6/19/2016

 

The Massachusetts Government Act of 1774
  
This Parliamentary act was punishment for the Boston Tea Party that happened December 16, 1773.  With this act, Parliament restricted the Massachusetts assembly and town meetings to one per year.
​
It is true today and certainly then that written laws are never comprehensive enough to eliminate gray areas.  Some background is needed to explain the loop-holes in The Massachusetts Government Act, and the two legal systems in conflict: British and Colonial.

The Colonists were most intelligent.  From 1635 on, Puritan law required parents to educate their children.  The first public exam school, Boston Latin, founded by the Puritan “Godly”[i] is still educating students today. While, the “Godly” intended to ensure everyone read the Bible, the second most circulated book in the colonies, through the 18th century, was William Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England”.  More copies of the Commentaries were purchased in the colonies than all of England.  To bring this into context, England’s population was 6.4 million and the Thirteen Colonies combined population was 1.4 million people.
​ 
The Following are our thoughts on this dis-proportionate ratio.  The Colonies and other British protectorates, were treated as subordinate Englishmen by Parliament and the King(s). They had no rights or representation to Parliament or the laws created. The Colonies were not represented in Parliament, yet Wales, Ireland and Scotland had seats in the Commons. 

Large or small, rich or poor merchants were also considered lower class particularly if they did not own land.  If one didn’t own land one didn’t vote.  Over time the parliamentarians soon replaced the king as the tyrant ensuring their class had the votes.  Consequently, people had to know their rights to survive a legal system that was often cruel and rigged for the rich landholders.

 Blackstone’s Commentaries were written to help the layman understand and defend his rights. The four volumes cover the rights of persons, the rights of things, of private wrongs and of public wrongs.  In every country, dominated by England, citizens of the subordinated classes studied the law through Blackstone’s Commentaries.  As an example read our blog on the frigate The Rose and Michael Corbett’s assessment of his predicament. 

​ Blackstone’s Commentaries were published initially in 1756, and revised often with the last update published after his death in 1783.  Editions continued to be printed even after the Second World War.

This might explain why the Colonist so easily circumvented The Massachusetts Government Act with just a little bit of legal improvisation.  So the Law restricted all self-rule meetings, such as state assemblies and town meetings, to once a year. This was an attempt by Parliament to subjugate the colonies and their legal assemblies.  It was specifically aimed at Boston as a result of the Tea Party. The Massachusetts and Boston assembly’s simply adjourned and then reconvened their one and only meeting multiple times, over three-hundred and sixty five days. 

As for the Commentaries?  Its lasting impact on the world was its contribution to the legal practice known as “Common Law.” The law of all democracies adjusts and survives into the future through common law.
​
In subsequent blogs we will discuss, slavery, impressment, apprenticeship and Indenture.

​

[i] They were referred as “the Godly” amongst themselves and “Puritans” to outsiders.


Comments are closed.

    Categories

    All
    Abolitionist
    Adams
    American Revolutionary War
    AnteBellum Period
    Boston Civil War
    Boston Massacre
    Colonial Boston
    Colonial Law
    Korean War
    Politics In General
    Reveres
    Rowe
    The Secret Six And John Brown
    Travel To Boston
    World War I
    World War II

    Archives

    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    RSS Feed


​



    TO BE ON OUR MAILING LIST FOR NEW BLOGS

Submit

 Tours can be modified to be ADA compliant

mailto:walkbostonhistory@gmail.com


An association of tour guidES for educators, amateur historians, and the general public looking to walk beyond the Freedom Trail, concentrating on the legal, philosophical, emotional and political events of Boston.

-Follow us on facebook 
-Member, Massachusetts historical Society, 
-VOLUNTEER PHOTOGRAPHERS FOR fINDAGRAVE..COM
-Volunteer transcriber for the National Archives
-fOLLOW US ON TWITTER @WALKBOSTONHISt
​

  • Freedom Trail Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Tour
    • Boston Civil War Tour
    • The Kennedy Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Lesson Plan
    • Paul Revere's Row to Charlestown 4/18/1775
    • Virtual Tour of the Massachusetts State House
    • The Boston Massacre per the Pennsylvania Gazette
    • Paul Revere Lesson Plan
  • Revere Bells Index
    • The Stickney Revere Bell Listings of 1976
    • Paul Revere Bell of Beverly
    • Revere Bells in Boston >
      • Paul Revere Bell Old South Meeting House
    • California's 2 Paul Revere Bells
    • Paul Revere & Son's Bell Westborough Massachusetts
    • Falmouth, Massachusetts
    • Revere Bell Fredericksburg VA
    • Revere Bell Hampton NH
    • First Parish Church of Kennebunk
    • Revere Bells in Maine
    • Revere Bell in Mansfield
    • Revere Bell of Michigan
    • Revere Salem Mass Bell
    • Roxbury First Unitariarn Universalist Church and their Revere Bell
    • Revere & Son Bell, Savannah Georgia
    • Singapore Revere Bell
    • Tuscaloosa Bell >
      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
      • Samuel St John Jr Estate Genealogy
      • Authenticating the Revere Tuscaloosa Bell
      • Joshua B Leavens Last Will and Testament
      • 20th Century Tuscaloosa bell
    • Revere Bells Lost in Time
    • Revere Bells Washington DC
    • Revere Bell in Wakefield, Mass
    • Revere Bells Woodstock VT
  • Bostonians
    • Edward F Alexander of The Harvard 20th Civil War Regiment
    • Polly Baker
    • John Wilkes Booth
    • The Mad Hatter, Thomas, Boston Corbett who Killed John Wilkes Booth
    • Richard-Henry-Dana-Jr
    • James Franklin
    • Benjamin Harris of Publick Occurrences
    • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
    • William Lloyd Garrison
    • USS Thomas Hudner DDG116
    • Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere
    • Amos Lincoln
    • King Philip
    • Mayor's of Boston
    • Mum Bett & Theodore Sedgwick
    • James Otis
    • Paul Joseph Revere
    • John Rowe >
      • John Rowe's Diary Entries
      • John Rowe's Dinner Party
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
    • Rachel Wall , Pirate
    • Paul Revere the Coroner of Boston
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
    • Dr. Joseph Warren's Dedication
  • History Blog
  • Lilja's of Natick
    • Lilja Brothers Military History
    • Lilja's Family Album
    • Memorials and Tributes to the Five Lilja Brothers
    • Lilja Family Tree
    • Lilja Historical Family Tree Documents
    • Lilja References
  • Collage of Boston
    • 4th of July Parade, Bristol RI
    • Boston Harbor
    • The Customs House
    • Forest Hills Cemetery
    • Georges Island
    • Nonviolent Monument to Peace - Sherborn
    • The Battle Road
    • Skate bike and scooter park
    • Cassin Young & USS Cassin Young
    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Roxbury Standpipe on Fort Hill
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park