Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the abolitionist, temperance, and transcendentalist movements. Massachusetts has played a powerful scientific, commercial, and cultural role in the history of the United States. In the late 18th century, Boston became known as the 'Cradle of Liberty' for the agitation there that later led to the American Revolution. In the 18th century, the Protestant First Great Awakening, which swept Britain and the Thirteen Colonies, originated from the pulpit of Northampton preacher Jonathan Edwards.

In 1786, Shays' Rebellion, a populist revolt led by disaffected American Revolutionary War veterans, influenced the United States Constitutional Convention. In 1777, General Henry Knox founded the Springfield Armory, which, during the Industrial Revolution, catalyzed numerous important technological advances, including interchangeable parts. In 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of America's most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials. Massachusetts was a site of early English colonization: the Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims of the Mayflower, and in 1630 the Massachusetts Bay Colony, taking its name from the indigenous Massachusett people, established settlements in Boston and Salem. Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade. During the 20th century, Massachusetts's economy shifted from manufacturing to services.

Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing, and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution.

Massachusetts is also home to the urban core of Greater Boston, the largest metropolitan area in New England and a region profoundly influential upon American history, academia, and the research economy. The state's capital and most populous city, as well as its cultural and financial center, is Boston. Massachusetts is the 6th smallest state by land area but is the 15th most populous state and the 3rd most densely populated, after New Jersey and Rhode Island. The state borders the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode Island to its south, New Hampshire and Vermont to its north, and New York to its west. Massachusetts ( / ˌ m æ s ə ˈ tʃ uː s ɪ t s/ ( listen), /- z ɪ t s/ Massachusett: Muhsachuweesut /məhswatʃəwiːsət/), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States, exceeding 7 million residents at the 2020 United States census, its highest decennial count ever.

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