This page includes data sets produced for my doctoral dissertation, “The Overflowings of Liberty: Massachusetts, the Townshend Crisis and the Reconception of Freedom, 1766-1770” (Department of History, Princeton University, 2010). Links to the documents appear in the key below, and the attachments may be accessed directly at the bottom of the page. (The full dissertation is available through ProQuest Dissertation Publishing.)
Although the data compiled in these documents underlay important analytical conclusions in the dissertation, space prevented the inclusion of the raw data in the dissertation itself. I have therefore, at the request of several readers, made the raw data and resulting tables available here in PDF format.
Other scholars are welcome to make use of this material, so long as full acknowledgment is made of the source. Please feel free to contact me, at jeremy.a.stern@gmail.com, with any questions.
§ The following short key to the various documents briefly explains their content, and provides links to the PDFs. (The key is arranged in logical subject order; the attachments at the bottom of the page are arranged alphabetically.)
· House membership data – by names.pdf This document provides the master list of members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives between 1760 and 1776, also including service in the 1768 Convention of towns and the three Provincial Congresses of 1774-5. Sources include the official rosters in the printed journals of the House, the Council’s version of the House rosters, and the records of House proceedings, which supply such additional information as late seatings, special elections, expulsions, and elections to – and gubernatorial vetoes from – the Governor’s Council. Each member’s votes in the 17 recorded roll call votes during the 1760-1776 span are also indicated (the roll call votes are glossed and listed separately – see below). This version lists the members alphabetically by name.
· House membership data – by towns.pdf Identical to the above, but arranged alphabetically by town or district.
· Roll call votes.pdf This document provides the details of each of the 17 roll call votes recorded between 1760 and 1776 in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (16 are official tallies from the House records; vote 14a is an unofficial tally from a Boston newspaper). A précis of each vote is provided, followed by the yeas and nays, with town and county noted for each member. Those not voting on each vote have been extrapolated from the full roster at the time of each vote, taking into account late arrivals, elevations to the Council and special elections.
· 1768 election data.pdf This document looks at the election immediately prior to the Circular Letter crisis. It traces the fate of the remaining members “Black Listed” in 1766, and their subsequent votes on the demand to rescind; it also looks at the fate and voting pattern of the various representatives cryptically targeted by Boston Gazette writers “A Puritan” (identified at the time as Samuel Adams) and “Anti-Pope” prior to the 1768 town elections (see the full dissertation for further details).
· 1768 Convention data.pdf This document extracts from the master House membership document the full service records of all delegates to the 1768 Convention of towns. Those who had served as elected Representatives in 1768 prior to the dissolution of the Assembly are specially marked, and notes are offered on the delegates’ connection to past and future elected membership in the House.
· Table 1.pdf This table assesses the partisan breakdown of the House of Representatives before the Stamp Act crisis, looking at members’ voting patterns on the five roll-call votes between 1762 and 1765 – all of which directly related to Governor Bernard’s policies, and/or to the standing and status of Lieut. Governor Thomas Hutchinson – and at their subsequent electoral fates and voting records. (See the Roll Call document above for full information on the content of each numbered vote.)
· Table 2.pdf This table compares partisan voting patterns in votes 3 & 4, which occurred on the same day (Feb. 1, 1764).
· Table 3.pdf This table traces the reelection history of the 32 House members proscribed on the “Black List” in the March 31, 1766 Boston Gazette, including surviving members’ votes on the highly revealing decision whether to repeal the Circular Letter.
· Table 4.pdf This table traces the reelection history of the seventeen rescinders, who voted to comply with Hillsborough’s demand to rescind the Circular Letter.
· Table 5.pdf This table traces the reelection history of the “Glorious Ninety-two,” who voted not to rescind the Circular Letter – this allows a comparison between the electoral fortunes of the rescinders and anti-rescinders.
· Table 6.pdf This table traces the reelection history of those voting nay on four particularly lopsided (and highly popular) votes between 1766 and 1773 – i.e., votes 6, 11, 12 and 14, decided by votes of 81-5, 96-6, 77-3, and 109-4 respectively. (See Roll Call document for explanation and full record for each vote).