"The early decades of the nineteenth century were marked by vigorous intellectual activity. Emerson, Thoreau, and their followers were preaching the Transcendentalist theory of the innate nobility of man and the doctrine of individual expression. Social strivings were exemplified in the campaign of Horace Mann for universal education and in the crusade of Dorothea L. Dix on behalf of the mentally disturbed. Colonies of idealists gathered here and there, notably at Brook Farm, in West Roxbury, seeking to demonstrate that the sharing of labor and the fruits of labor was the ideal basis for community living. Minds teemed with ideas for social progress.
Out of this lively intellectual ferment came the abolitionist fervor. In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison, a most ardent and uncompromising foe of slavery, founded his weekly, The Liberator. The next year the New England Anti-Slavery Society was formed in Boston. Prominent men and women of this society helped slaves to escape to Canada by means of the "Underground Railway", and a reforming spirit dominated the Commonwealth throughout the years until the conclusion of the Civil War. To that war, Massachusetts gave men and money without stint, including the first African-American regiments to be mustered.
The post-war years were devoted primarily to the expansion of industry. The Port of Boston was now depending mainly upon the increasing volume of imported raw materials that its factories required. The Commonwealth continued to net large sums from its fisheries, concentrated mainly in Boston and Gloucester after the decline of New Bedford whaling, but its living henceforth came largely from machines
A large pool of educated people, a fortuitous economic atmosphere, and perhaps some of the old Yankee entreprenuerial spirit fueled an economic boom in Massachusetts in the mid-1980s, mostly in the high-tech industries. Unemployment rates were among the lowest in the nation; many ambitious social and environmental programs were begun; and Route 128, a road encircling Boston, earned its title as “America’s Technology Highway” as high-technology companies continued to cluster there. However, in the late 1980s, an economic decline struck Massachusetts and the rest of the Northeast, forcing a retrenching and reappraisal of the government and economy of the state. This cycle is a phenomenon that Massachusetts has encountered often in its long history. Fortunately, Massachusetts is not standing still. Logan International Airport and improvements in the Port of Boston have made Boston one of America’s premier transport centers. The Export Program takes advantage of the Commonwealth’s trading potential with Canada, which signed a treaty fully opening trade with the U.S. in 1988, with Europe, whose economic borders now have disappeared within the European Economic Community created in 1992, and with other nations as well. Newer industries such as biotechnology, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, marine sciences, and polymer technology are being strengthened, many in conjunction with the Centers of Excellence program, an ambitious mutual support network of government, business, and academia. Indeed, the Commonwealth’s more than eighty colleges and universities, its still impressive industrial capacity, its environmental study institutions, and its world-renowned medical centers are reasons for Massachusetts to be optimistic about its future in a changing world.
Massachusetts has undergone a profound economic transition over the past ten years. While the old manufacturing base lost much of its competitive edge, the state adapted - by necessity as much as by choice - to a “New Economy” characterized by knowledge-intensive production, high-tech innovation, and global trading. During the 1990s, especially between 1993 and 2000, great statewide economic expansion occurred. The Commonwealth expanded its export sector in the following industries: information technology, financial services, knowledge creation, health care, traditional manufacturing and travel and tourism.
Massachusetts continues to have an abundance of assets in the area of entrepreneurship and innovation. The Commonwealth attracts substantial venture capital (VC) investment that supports the creation of new business ventures. Much of this investment leverages the state's solid knowledge creation network, comprised of universities, laboratories, incubators, angel investors, and supporting service firms. The state is also a leader in attracting federal investments in research and development (R&D).
Indeed, Massachusetts continues as a leader in the nation, working hard to ensure a high quality of life for all citizens of the Commonwealth."
- From the mass.gov website
To learn more about Massachusetts visit http://www.mass.gov/
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