Boston, Massachusetts

City History

Boston is the capital and the most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a state of the United States of America. Founded in 1630, Boston is one of the oldest and most culturally significant cities in the United States. Boston is recognized as a gamma global city. Boston was founded on November 17, 1630, by Puritan colonists from England, on a peninsula called Shawmut by its original Native American inhabitants. Boston's early European settlers first called the area Trimountaine. They later renamed the town for Boston, England, in Lincolnshire, from which several prominent "pilgrim" colonists emigrated. A majority of Boston's early citizens were Puritans. During the early 1770s, British attempts to exert control on the thirteen colonies, primarily via taxation, prompted Bostonians to initiate the American Revolution. The Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and several early battles occurred in or near the city, including the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. During this period, Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride. After the Revolution, Boston quickly became one of the world's wealthiest international trading ports because it was the closest major American port to Europe — exports included rum, fish, salt, and tobacco.

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John Adams
1735 - 1826 Born October 30, 1735, John Adams grew up to become a Founding Father of the United States of America as well as the first Vice President and later, second President of the country. He graduated from Harvard Law College in 1755 and taught school in Worcester while studying James Putnam law offices. John Adams was admitted to the bar in 1755. As a member of the Continental Congress (1774-1778), he was appointed the chief justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court in 1775. Adams nominated George Washington as commander-in-chief of the army in June of 1775. His influence in Congress was great and he sought immediate permanent separation from Great Britain. Congress created the first of a series of committees to study naval matters on October 5, 1775. Adams championed the establishment and strengthening of an American Navy and he is is often referred to as the father of the United States Navy. In 1776 John Adams was one of the men to sign the Declaration of Independence, one of the greatest revolutionary acts in history.