Massachusetts Elections

When the United States ratified the Constitution in June of 1788, the Federalist party had essentially won. The Federalists wanted a strong central government where only the rich and powerful could decide the fate of the country. The three biggest names in the party were Alexander Hamilton, General George Washington and Massachusetts diplomat John Adams. While the House of Representatives would replace the Congress of the Confederacy, they would be considered the "lower" branch of the government. The upper branch would be the United States Senate. Finally, the executive branch would have a singular monarch (soon to be named President) with his own cabinet. The Senate would have two members from each State and would serve six years each term. There would be three "Classes" of Senators known as Class 1 (senior), Class 2 (junior) and in some cases Class 3. The reason for different classes is rather than have mass turnover every six years, they would rotate elections so...

THE FOLLOWING CONTEST, SCHEDULED FOR ONE TERM IS FOR THE 1788 GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION! INTRODUCING FIRST, THE CHALLENGER, REPRESENTING THE ANTI-FEDERALISTS....ELBRIDGE GERRY!                                                             The challenger AND HIS OPPONENT. HE IS THE CURRENT REIGNING, DEFENDING, UNDISPUTED GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS....JOHNNNNNN HANCOCK!                                                           The incumbent After the disaster known as Shay's Rebellion infected Massachusetts  the year earlier , things went somewhat back to normal under John Hancock as he was once again the Governor. Taxes were lowered to a more respectable rate although John was reluctantly forced to ...

THE FOLLOWING CONTEST IS SCHEDULED FOR ONE TERM, AND IT IS FOR THE 1787 GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION! INTRODUCING FIRST, THE CHALLENGER, HE IS THE FORMER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS AND THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION..JOHNNNNN HANCOCK!                                                          The challenger AND HIS OPPONENT. HE IS THE CURRENT GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS....JAMES BOWDOIN!!!                                                        The incumbent Simply put, everything fell apart following the 1786 Gubernatorial Election in the state of Massachusetts. Following James Bowdoin's re-election against an un-interested John Hancock, the state of Massachusetts slowly delved into chaos. B...

THE FOLLOWING CONTEST, SCHEDULED FOR ONE TERM IS FOR THE 1786 MASSACHUSETTS GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION! INTRODUCING FIRST, THE CHALLENGER. HE IS THE FORMER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS AND IS NOW THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION, JOHNNNNN HANCOCK!                                                                The challenger AND HIS OPPONENT. HE IS THE GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS...JAMESSSS BOWDOIN!                                                              The incumbent After Massachusetts Governor John Hancock resigned in January of 1785, the Massachusetts General Court named James Bowdoin winner and new Governor over Lt. Governor Thomas Cushing, Revolutionary War h...

The winds of change spread into Massachusetts as the calendar turned to 1785. With the Revolutionary War over, the United States federal government was starting to figure out that they were piss broke. In order to gain funds spent in the war, taxes had to be introduced to generate revenue. In 1784, the federal government wanted to use hard currency but Governor John Hancock not only told them to pound sand, he refused to go after the delinquent rural citizens that were depending on goods to barter with instead of physical cash. With pressure coming from New York, Hancock decided he'd had enough. A lot of historians point that Hancock took the coward's way out, but the bottom line was the five time....FIVE TIME....elected Governor resigned on January 29, 1785. That meant come April, we were going to have a new Governor elected. This wouldn't be the last of John Hancock, but until the current tide turned, he was going to watch from the sidelines.             ...

THE FOLLOWING CONTEST, SCHEDULED FOR ONE TERM IS FOR THE 1784 MASSACHUSETTS GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION! INTRODUCING FIRST....HE IS THE CURRENT....REIGNING...DEFENDING....UNDISPUTED GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS....JOHNNNNNNNN HANCOCK!                                                                      The Incumbent AND HIS OPPONENT......EVERYBODY......AGAIN! Yes, just like the previous year, Hancock would be facing a bunch of write-ins. But what was going on in the country heading into the 1784 election? As mentioned  here , Congress approved of the Treaty of Paris in September of 1783 to effectively end the Revolutionary War. John Jay, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were the dignitaries from the Unitd States to sign the treaty. The last of the British troops set sail back home on November 25th, known as evacuation...