Talk:History of Massachusetts

message: I have noticed that this article was requested, and I was wondering if a redirect the the article "Massachusetts" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusettes) would be a good idea?  Thank you. -Demosthenes- 03:08, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: Questia is a commercial on-line publisher of out of print books.  Its site has not just full bibliography but the first pages of every chapter of every book.  This is invaluable in its own right and essaential if a person is deciding to get the book by library-- or purchase access for 99 cents on Questia.  Keeping readers blind about free www info is a bad idea and contary to the Wiki spirit.  We are not selling cigarettes here. Note that MANY wiki articles has ISBN numbers for books (which are of use only in purchasing the book), and many list publishers.  In the intellectual world of encyclopedia we have to rely on publishers, and a hostile attitude just weaken Wiki and makes it less useful.   Rjensen 23:05, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you for all the work you've done on the Massachusetts and History of Massachusetts articles.  My biggest concern about Questia is whether the information on the History of Massachusetts article were original work or cut-and-paste from copyrighted articles.  If this is not the case, then my next concern is that the reference is being used for advertising.  Regardless of the quality of Questia (which I do not at all doubt-- they seem like a great resource), then the lists of resources which you provide (which, again, I appreciate) can be included without the like to Questia.  It would be equally inappropriate, for example, to include a link to a book via Amazon, when instead a proper bibliography would merely list the bibliographic info.  See, e.g., Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not, Wikipedia talk:What Wikipedia is not/archive1#advertisements on Wikipedia.  Furthermore, the ISBN numbers are also useful for free library borrowing. --Mark Adler (Markles) 01:22, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: There is no advertising here. The Questia name doesn't show anywhere in Wiki.  (Only is users click through do they get it.)  I have no relationship whatever to Questia.  I recommend the FREE SERVICES they offfer because they are enormously helpful to users.  Note that Wiki often says book xxx is published by Macmillan (in that case the company's name does appeal on Wiki). I think this linking is less intrusive and much more useful, because--take a look--Questia lets you read the first page of every chapter.  Other links to sources like JSTOR are also valuable--our users otherwise do not know they can read this material online. By the way the mini-essays I am writing is entirely my own (based on the books I list in the references). I have been writing history books and articles for 40 years --am retired now--and love the work.  Rjensen 03:18, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Questia  

message: It says on List of U.S. states by date of statehood that Maine was formerly part of Massachusetts before 1820. Should this be noted here? -- Astrokey44|talk 23:45, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, and there are other tidbits in Massachusetts#History which may or may not be mentioned here. -- Beland 15:57, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Maine 

message: It's said that Vikings were first Europeans in Massachusetts? Around years 1000-1200?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.156.123.209 (talk) 19:18, 14 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It's said that space aliens built the pyramids.  That does not make it so.  There is absolutely no credible evidence that Norse explorers made it as far as New England let alone Massachusetts though there is strong evidence they made it to Newfoundland and possibly Nova Scotia.  The Sagas don't give the exact year of Leif Ericson's discovery of Vinland but most likely it was between 1001 and 1010 and certainly well before 1075 the date of the earliest written saga that mentioned him.  Leif Ericson supposedly claimed that he had heard from another Norseman that they had seen land west of Greenland prior to 999 though no further details were mentioned.  Also supposedly a couple of men had been shipwrecked on land west of Greenland some time prior to Leif Ericson's discovery of Vinland but again, no further mention of details are made.  There certainly was contact between Europeans and indigenous people of New England long before the Mayflower came to Massachusetts.  In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold arrived in Maine (originally part of Massachusetts) intent on starting a colony based on fishing and found there indigenous people in possession of European made goods indicating they had traded with Europeans in the then recent past. No one knows for sure exactly when the first European visited Massachusetts but almost certainly it was as early as during the 110 years between Columbus and Gosnold.  There is also a claim by some Portuguese historians that João Vaz Corte-Real may have discovered land in North America around 1473 and the best guess as to where is claimed to be around Newfoundland though he named the place "New Land of the Codfish" which some might interpret implying Cape Cod though there really isn't any evidence to support that.   In fact, there is no solid evidence that he ever explored more than a few hundred miles into the Atlantic Ocean let alone made it as far as the Americas. Such claims were made mostly by his family after he had died and after Columbus first set foot on an island in the Caribbean.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:9000:FF00:8E:75F7:9E61:F857:54F3 (talk) 04:42, 1 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Vikings 

message: The date the Province ended is shown as 1774. Another source states that a Provincial Congress was formed in that year. The reader is left in limbo except some references to the "Commonwealth". What kind of government was that? Was it controlled by the British or the Colonists? The term Commonwealth implies that it may have been an independent state between 1774 and admission to the Union.
76.102.31.185 (talk) 07:10, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Omits the Organization of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

message: Something is wrong here.  Either the dates are incorrect, or the text has the logic backwards.  (My cursory look at a few online sources indicates the text is probably backwards -- the Parliamentary declaration preceded Lexington & Concord, since it (among other things) would have enabled Gage to use (more) force.)
:With the local population largely opposing British authority, troops moved from Boston on April 18, 1775, to destroy the powder supplies of local resisters in Concord. [...] In response, on February 9, 1775, the British Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in rebellion, and sent additional troops to restore order to the colony. 
Also, I believe the actual battle took place on April 19, even if the troops actually left Boston late on the 18th.
Magicpiano (talk) 19:57, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Date contradiction in Revolutionary Massachusetts: 1760s–1780s 

message: The article implies that Thomas Hooker left the Massachusetts colony to found Connecticut over religious toleration, as did Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. I don't believe there is any evidence of that. Although Thomas Hooker wanted to extend suffrage to all Puritans, there is no evidence that I know of, that he dissented on any religious views with the Oligarchy/Theocracy of Massachusetts Bay Colony.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.64.0.252 (talk) 16:10, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Thomas Hooker 

message: Any interest in creating a Timeline of Massachusetts article? A few other US states have timelines (see :Category:Timelines of states of the United States). Here is a source:
* 
-- M2545 (talk) 16:49, 21 June 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Timeline of Massachusetts 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
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*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20091213200252/http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Highway/bigdig/projectbkg.aspx to http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Highway/bigdig/projectbkg.aspx
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130921185345/http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/pynchon.html to http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/pynchon.html
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080404033909/http://www.salemdeeds.com/atlases_results.asp?ImageType=index&atlastype=MassWorld&atlastown=&atlas=MASSACHUSETTS+1871&atlas_desc=MASSACHUSETTS+1871 to http://www.salemdeeds.com/atlases_results.asp?ImageType=index&atlastype=MassWorld&atlastown=&atlas=MASSACHUSETTS+1871&atlas_desc=MASSACHUSETTS+1871
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thread_title:  External links modified 

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*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090116131813/http://home.att.net/~mkm-of-enfct/EHS/EHShistory.html to http://home.att.net/~mkm-of-enfct/EHS/EHShistory.html
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 3 external links on History of Massachusetts. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Wikipedia mentions the "Massachusetts Pound". 
"The Massachusetts Bay government established a mint to produce the Massachusetts pound beginning in 1652. In 1645, the General Court ordered rural towns to increase sheep production. Sheep provided meat and especially wool for the local cloth industry, avoiding the expense of imports of British cloth.[18] Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660 and began to scrutinize the governmental oversight in the colonies, and Parliament passed the Navigation Acts to regulate trade for England's benefit. Massachusetts and Rhode Island had thriving merchant fleets, and they often ran afoul of the trade regulations. King Charles formally vacated the Massachusetts charter in 1684."
99% of people have never heard of the "Massachusetts Pound". Besides, its not compelling and badly edited.  Plus, the argument that its not even true can be made.  People want to hear about the pine tree shilling and the mint in Boston in 1652 not some silly piece of paper issued in 1778.  Theonomad (talk) 21:26, 19 October 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: regarding today's edits, I've reverted them because though I think the Hull Mint deserves to be in the article, this particular edit isn't the solution. It's essentially the same text you've tried to add to this page and others in the past, with no improvement. You ask subsequent editors to "don't delete - see talk page". But anyone who reads this talk page will see no consensus in favor of making this edit, nor any explanation of why the text being added is better than the text that was reverted before. My suggestions are:  (a) The text to be added should be written in encyclopedic language and tone, and tell a full story. Quotes should be used sparingly and attributed when they occur. (b) As I wrote above on Oct. 20, the text should state more about why the Hull Mint is important to Massachusetts history, why the colonists thought it important to start a mint ("currency was also an issue" does not provide enough explanation to a casual student of history), how it was controversial (not simply that it was considered treason -- why was it? And did the colonists think they were committing treason at the time?), how it ended, and what role it played in the colony's path to independence. (c) Citations should be to "reliable sources" (i.e., independent sources with some editorial control -- not a blog, regardless of how well-respected or qualified the blog writer is). (d) The edit deleted an entire paragraph for no stated reason. I'm OK with losing the "Massachusetts pound" sentence, for reasons you and  discussed above, but you also deleted a link to the Navigation Acts and a cited fact about sheep production (another step, like the mint, toward economic self-sufficiency and presumably a step toward independence). ``` t b w i l l i e ` $1.25 ` 04:25, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: It is my opinion that the Hull mint deserves about two sentences of mention here.  This article's scope covers four hundred years of history. The business about Edward Randolph and the king doesn't need to be here (especially as an extended quotation), nor do the details about what exactly it produced (beyond the well-known pine tree shilling).  What it was, who founded it and why, what it made, how long it lasted. Magic♪piano 13:26, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: The whole History of Massachusetts page needs to scrapped in my opinion. The Navigation Acts should have at least a paragraph or more here being that they were for a century. Sheep? haha!  I wont be spending anymore time here - inventing the "Massachusetts Pound" and Appleseed, but not Hull etc.; I'm done doing my research and this Wikipedia thing - I thought I'd have more fun doing it.  Arguing with "editors" over this or that copy but ignoring fact, truth and import tries my patience.  Theonomad (talk) 13:51, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm sorry if volunteering to build a wiki doesn't work for you, . Writing history is more than finding sources -- it's also weeding the relevant from the irrelevant, and presenting those facts in a readable and coherent fashion. Doing so in a collaborative project such as Wikipedia does require some patience, and not all of us have it. Should you find yourself in the future with enough time and patience to take a crack at rewording this passage, your contributions will continue to be welcomed to the extent that they meet Wikipedia policies. ``` t b w i l l i e ` $1.25 ` 16:59, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: Wikipedia is a collaborative effort.  That means you sometimes have to work with people who approach matters differently than you do, and have a different perspective, and that you don't always get what you want or feel is right.  Sorry that doesn't work for you. Magic♪piano 00:10, 23 October 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  History of Massachusetts - Captain John Hull (18 December 1624 – 1 October 1683)  

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thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion