Massachusetts Constitution - History

History

An earlier draft by the Massachusetts General Court was rejected by the people due to lack of public participation. Subsequently, in the summer of 1779, delegates were elected to a constitutional convention, which met in Cambridge in September 1779. The convention chose a committee of thirty members to prepare a new constitution and declaration of rights.

To write a new constitution, the committee of thirty members appointed a subcommittee consisting of James Bowdoin, Samuel Adams, and John Adams. That subcommittee in turn assigned the task of preparing a first draft to John Adams alone, a "sub-sub committee of one," as Adams later referred to it. For the new declaration of rights, the committee of thirty members assigned the drafting directly to John Adams. However, the article on religion was referred to clergy. Perhaps the most famous line in Adams's draft declaration of rights was this: "All men are born equally free and independent...." This was slightly revised before being adopted by the constitutional convention: "All men are born free and equal...."

Male voters 21 years or older ratified the constitution, including the declaration of rights, that was proposed by the convention. At the insistence of John Adams, the document referred to the state as a "commonwealth."