Administrative Divisions Of Massachusetts
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Administrative Divisions Of Massachusetts
Massachusetts shares with the five other New England states a governmental structure known as the New England town. Only the southeastern third of the state has functioning county governments; in western, central, and northeastern Massachusetts, traditional county-level government was eliminated in the late 1990s. Generally speaking, there are four kinds of public school districts in Massachusetts: local schools, regional schools, vocational/technical schools, and charter schools. Municipalities In many other states, a town is a compact incorporated area; between the towns are unincorporated areas, usually quite large, that do not belong to any town. Such states are completely apportioned into counties, and county governments have significant importance, particularly to those living outside towns, and often perform major functions such as providing police and fire services and operating airports. In contrast, all of the land in Massachusetts is divided up among the cities and ...
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New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick to the northeast and Quebec to the north. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east and southeast, and Long Island Sound is to the southwest. Boston is New England's largest city, as well as the capital of Massachusetts. Greater Boston is the largest metropolitan area, with nearly a third of New England's population; this area includes Worcester, Massachusetts (the second-largest city in New England), Manchester, New Hampshire (the largest city in New Hampshire), and Providence, Rhode Island (the capital of and largest city in Rhode Island). In 1620, the Pilgrims, Puritan Separatists from England, established Plymouth Colony, the second successful English settlement in America, following the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia foun ...
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Massachusetts Constitution
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the fundamental governing document of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the 50 individual state governments that make up the United States of America. As a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779, John Adams was the document's principal author. Voters approved the document on June 15, 1780. It became effective on October 25, 1780, and is among the oldest functioning written constitutions in continuous effect in the world. (The constitutions of San Marino and Vermont have sections still in force that are older.) It was also the first constitution anywhere to be created by a convention called for that purpose rather than by a legislative body. The Massachusetts Constitution was written last of the original states' first constitutions. Rather than taking the form of a list of provisions, it was organized into a structure of chapters, sections and articles. It served as a model for the Constitution ...
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Representative Town Meeting
A representative town meeting, also called "limited town meeting", is a form of municipal legislature particularly common in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and permitted in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Representative town meetings function largely the same as open town meetings, except that not all registered voters can participate or vote. The townspeople instead elect town meeting members by precinct to represent them and to vote on the issues for them, much like a US Representative votes on behalf of their constituents in Congress. Connecticut Representative town meetings (RTMs) vary from town to town, and can vary widely in terms of rules and bylaws. The town of Westport, Connecticut has non-partisan RTMs, where while a member may belong to a party, it may not be advertised as such, and the First Selectman may veto any legislation passed excepting for appropriations. Wethersfield, Connecticut, however, requires "minority representation" so that no one party can contro ...
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Open Town Meeting
Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with town hall meetings held by state and national politicians to answer questions from their constituents, which have no decision-making power. Town meeting has been used in portions of the United States, principally in New England, since the 17th century. The format has been characterized as an example of deliberative democracy, and served as a prominent case study in Democracy, democratic theory. Overview Town meeting is a form of local government practiced in the U.S. region of New England since colonial times and in some western states since at least the late 19th century. Typically conducted by New England towns, ''town meeting'' can also refer to meetings of other governmental bodies, such as school districts or water districts. Wh ...
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Town Meeting
Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with town hall meetings held by state and national politicians to answer questions from their constituents, which have no decision-making power. Town meeting has been used in portions of the United States, principally in New England, since the 17th century. The format has been characterized as an example of deliberative democracy, and served as a prominent case study in democratic theory. Overview Town meeting is a form of local government practiced in the U.S. region of New England since colonial times and in some western states since at least the late 19th century. Typically conducted by New England towns, ''town meeting'' can also refer to meetings of other governmental bodies, such as school districts or water districts. While the us ...
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Gosnold, Massachusetts
Gosnold is a town that encompasses the Elizabeth Islands in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 70, making it the least populous town in Massachusetts. Most of the residents live in the village of Cuttyhunk, while most of the land in the town is owned by the Forbes family. History The earliest inhabitants of the Elizabeth Islands were the Wampanoag Native Americans. The tribe did not settle permanently on the Elizabeth Islands, but used them in summer for hunting, fishing, and gardening. Occasionally, arrowheads or stone tools are discovered on the islands. The islands' names come from the Wampanoag language. Bartholomew Gosnold was among the first Europeans to become aware of the Elizabeth Islands, including Cuttyhunk, in 1602. He and his crew attempted to establish a trading post on Cuttyhunk so that they could trade with the natives, the first attempt by Europeans to do so. The trading post was abandoned after only a few w ...
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North Adams, Massachusetts
North Adams is a city in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population was 12,961 as of the 2020 census. Best known as the home of the largest contemporary art museum in the United States, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams has in recent years become a center for tourism, culture and recreation. History Early history North Adams was first settled in 1745 during King George's War, when the most western of a line of defensive forts was built along the bank of the Hoosic River, and occupied by British soldiers and their families. During the war, Canada_(New_France), Canadian and Native American forces laid Siege of Fort Massachusetts, siege to Fort Massachusetts 30 prisoners were taken to Quebec; half died in captivity. In 1747 Fort_Massachusetts_(Massachusetts), Fort Massachusetts was rebuilt with improved defenses, but was never att ...
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Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, Allston, Fenway–Kenmore, Mission Hill, Boston, Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, and West Roxbury. The city of Newton, Massachusetts, Newton lies to the west of Brookline. Brookline was first settled in 1638 as a Hamlet (place), hamlet in Boston, known as Muddy River; it was incorporated as a separate town in 1705. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, the population of the town was 63,191. It is the most populous municipality in Massachusetts to have a New England town, town (rather than city) form of government. History Once part of Algonquian peoples, Algonquian territory, Brookline was first settled by White people, European colonists in the early 17th century. The area was an outlying part of the colonial settlement of Boston a ...
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Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most populous city in the country. The city boundaries encompass an area of about and a population of 675,647 as of 2020. It is the seat of Suffolk County (although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999). The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest MSA in the country. A broader combined statistical area (CSA), generally corresponding to the commuting area and including Providence, Rhode Island, is home to approximately 8.2 million people, making it the sixth most populous in the United States. Boston is one of the oldest ...
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Zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a single use (e.g. residential, industrial), they may combine several compatible activities by use, or in the case of form-based zoning, the differing regulations may govern the density, size and shape of allowed buildings whatever their use. The planning rules for each zone determine whether planning permission for a given development may be granted. Zoning may specify a variety of outright and conditional uses of land. It may indicate the size and dimensions of lots that land may be subdivided into, or the form and scale of buildings. These guidelines are set in order to guide urban growth and development. Zoning is the most common regulatory urban planning method used by local governments in developed countries. Exceptions include the Uni ...
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Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class in the three-year JD program has approximately 560 students, among the largest of the top 150 ranked law schools in the United States. The first-year class is broken into seven sections of approximately 80 students, who take most first-year classes together. Aside from the JD program, Harvard also awards both LLM and SJD degrees. Harvard's uniquely large class size and prestige have led the law school to graduate a great many distinguished alumni in the judiciary, government, and the business world. According to Harvard Law's 2020 ABA-required disclosures, 99% of 2019 graduates passed the bar exam. The school's graduates accounted for more than one-quarter of all Supreme Court clerks between 2000 and 2010, more than any other law schoo ...
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