CURIOUS FACTS CONTEST #6: FACTS ABOUT MASSACHUSETTS
This is my entry to the Curious Facts Contest #6 , kindly run by @river-island. I choose to share 5 Curious Facts about the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
(1.) Massachusetts is a Commonwealth not a state. The terminology has no impact on the rights of the citizens of Massachusetts. It was at the urging of John Adams, that Massachusetts adopted the term Commonwealth instead of state. Commonwealth refers to a government based on laws established by the agreement of the people. A state is a “one of the constituent units of a nation having a federal government”. It is a subtle difference that was important to John Adam, because he wanted it to be clear that the government was created by the people living in Massachusetts.
(2.) The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Constitution is the oldest Constitution still actively guiding a government in the world. It was adopted by the people of the Commonwealth in 1780. This is three years before the end of the Revolutionary War and eight years before the United States Constitution was ratified, in 1788.
John Adams drafted the majority of the Massachusetts Constitution, based on his April 1776 pamphlet, Thoughts on Government. In the pamphlet, Adams advocated that governments be created as a social agreement between the whole people and each citizen, that all shall be governed by the rule of law for the common good. This idea is the basis of the Massachusetts Constitution Preamble.
Since he saw the Constitution as a social agreement he laid out the rights of the citizen in the next section of the Massachusetts Constitution, subtitled “PART THE FIRST A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
The next section subtitled “PART THE SECOND The Frame of Government.” he created powers bestowed on the government and its three branches: judicial, legislative, and executive.
The United States Constitution was model after the components of the Massachusetts Constitution.
(3.) Chocolate Chip Cookies, you can thank Massachusetts resident Ruth Grave Wakefield of Woburn for inventing the Tollhouse cookie, in 1939! Mrs. Wakefield owned the Tollhouse Inn. As an Innkeeper she often baked chocolate cookies for her guests. One day she ran out of baking chocolate, like any great cook she improvised and added chunks of chocolate. She expected the chunks to melt and spread throughout the cookie. It didn’t turn out as planned, but the result was the creation of America’s favorite cookie.
(4.) Basketball was invented in Massachusetts, in 1891 by Dr.James Naismith. Dr. Naismith was a physical education teacher at the Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA International Training School. Massachusetts winter weather often confined his students to the gym. His boss, told him to create an activity for these athletes that would keep them in shape and that limited their risk of injury.
He hung peach baskets at each end of the gym, gave them a ball, and explained his 13 rules. His game was enjoyable and an effective means to keep the students safely occupied and in shape. Eventually, it became one of the most popular sports in the world.
(5.) The lovely pink flamingo lawn decorations also hail from Massachusetts! It was designed by Don Featherstone in 1957 for Union Products in Leominster, Massachusetts. The design became a legendary icon that merited an Ig Nobel Art Prize in 1996.
Don Featherstone was also the first person in the history to personally accept his Ig Noble Award at MIT. It honors individuals whose invention or product makes us laugh and then think.
Thank you for participating in Curious Facts Contes #6
Happy to have learned something new today. Great entry! 😊
Resteemd and Upvoted!
Thank you for collaborating with me to promote this post as explained at https://steemit.com/steemit/@jerrybanfield/10-ways-to-fund-a-steem-growth-project.