4&8 MASSACHUSETTS. 



and episcopalians. Perhaps in no country in the world are the insti- 

 tutions of religion more respected, morals more pure, or the deport- 

 ment of the people more inoffensive. 



University, colleges, Sec. ...There is a university at Cambridge, 

 four miles west of Boston, the college buildings of which are four in 

 number, and named Harvard, Hollis, and Massachusetts Halls, and 

 Holden Chapel. This university generally has from 140 to 200 stu- 

 dents; and as respects its library, philosophical apparatus, and pro- 

 fessorships, is at present the first literary institution on this continent. 

 It takes date from the year 1638, seven years after the first settle- 

 ment in the township. There are several well endowed colleges in 

 this stace, among which are, Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine ; 

 Williams College, in Williamstown, Berkshire county ; and Divinity 

 College in Andover. Most of the principal towns have academies. 



In May, 1780, the council and house of representatives of Massa- 

 chusetts, passed an act for incorporating and establishing a society for 

 the cultivation and promotion of the arts and sciences. It is entitled 

 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The first members 

 were named in the act, and never were to be more than two hundred* 

 nor less than forty. 



History. ...An account of the first settlement and early history of 

 Massachusetts has already been given under the general head of New- 

 England. In consequence of the revolt of the American colonies 

 from the authority of Great Britain (of the origin and progress of 

 which an account has been given in another place) on the 25th July, 

 1776, by an order from the council at Boston, the declaration of the 

 American congress, absolving the United Colonies from their alle- 

 giance to the British crown, and declaring them free and independent, 

 was publicly proclaimed from the balcony of the state-house in that 

 town ; and a constitution or form of government, for the common- 

 wealth of Massachusetts, including a declaration of rights, was agreed 

 to, and established by the inhabitants of that province, and took place 

 in October, 1780. 



