A

MUNICIPAL HISTORY

OF THE

TOWN AND CITY OF BOSTON,

DURING

TWO CENTURIES.

FROM

SEPTEMBER 17, 1630, TO SEPTEMBER 17, 1830.

BY

JOSIAH QUINCY.

BOSTON:

CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by JOSIAH QUINCY, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

CAMBRIDGE:

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY

HOUGHTON AND HAYWOOD.

PREFACE

THE municipal affairs of the inhabitants of Boston were conducted under the form of town government, established by the early settlers of New England, from 1630 to 1822, when, on their petition, they were incorporated into a city by the Legislature of Massachusetts. Through eight succeeding years, three successive administrations presided over the new form of government thus established. The author of this history held the office of Mayor during almost six of these years, at a period when the principles, by which legislative and executive measures ought to be guided, were diligently sought and carefully applied, according to the powers conferred by the city charter. The people of Boston had surrendered, with reluctance, the management of their municipal concerns, which they had maintained in popular assemblies for nearly two centuries; and the jealousy with which they watched the measures of the new authorities, rendered a frequent and full development of motives and consequences expedient and important.

At the close of his administration, it therefore appeared to the author, that a municipal history of the town, and an accurate account of the transactions in the first years of the city government, would be useful and interesting to