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Boston City Charter
The Boston City Charter is a series of State statutes which codifies a system of rules for the government of the City of Boston, Massachusetts. The Charter is not a typical city constitution but rather a series of amendments, General Court rulings, and case law which form the basis of government. The central organs of the Boston City Charter are the Mayoral Office and City Council. The composition of these offices, their term length, manner of election, and scope of power have changed throughout the years. History Before Boston was incorporated as a city in 1822, it shared a similar manner of government to other New England towns. This meant that Boston, then known as "Town of Boston", was governed by a 7-member Board of Selectmen who would elect then among themselves an executive office of "Intendant". To serve as legislature there was a "Board of Assistants". The Assistants were given a mix of legislative and executive powers and were elected from Boston's then 12 wards. As ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mayor Of Boston
The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four-year term; there are no term limits. The mayor's office is in Boston City Hall, in Government Center. The current mayor of Boston is Michelle Wu. There are two living former mayors: Marty Walsh, who served from 2014 to 2021, and Raymond Flynn, who served from 1984 to 1993. The most recent mayor to die was Thomas Menino, on October 30, 2014. History Prior to 1822, there was no Mayor of Boston, because Boston was incorporated as a town. In Massachusetts, a town is typically governed by a town meeting, with a board of selectmen handling regular business. Boston was the first community in Massachusetts to receive a city charter, which was granted in 1822. Under the terms of the new charter, the mayor was elected annually. In June 1895, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most populous city in the country. The city boundaries encompass an area of about and a population of 675,647 as of 2020. It is the seat of Suffolk County (although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999). The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest MSA in the country. A broader combined statistical area (CSA), generally corresponding to the commuting area and including Providence, Rhode Island, is home to approximately 8.2 million people, making it the sixth most populous in the United States. Boston is one of the oldest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meeting House
A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Christ, and; * meeting house or chapel, which is a building where the church meets. In early Methodism, meeting houses were typically called preaching houses (to distinguish it from a church house), which hosted itinerant preachers. Meeting houses in America The colonial meeting house in America was typically the first public building built as new villages sprang up. A meeting-house had a dual purpose as a place of worship and for public discourse, but sometimes only for "...the service of God." As the towns grew and the separation of church and state in the United States matured the buildings which were used as the seat of local government were called a town-house or town-hall. The nonconformist meeting houses generally do not ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see how websites looked in the past. Its founders, Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, developed the Wayback Machine to provide "universal access to all knowledge" by preserving archived copies of defunct web pages. Launched on May 10, 1996, the Wayback Machine had more than 38.2 million records at the end of 2009. , the Wayback Machine had saved more than 760 billion web pages. More than 350 million web pages are added daily. History The Wayback Machine began archiving cached web pages in 1996. One of the earliest known pages was saved on May 10, 1996, at 2:08p.m. Internet Archive founders Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat launched the Wayback Machine in San Francisco, California, in October 2001, primarily to address the problem of web co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veto
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto powers are also found at other levels of government, such as in state, provincial or local government, and in international bodies. Some vetoes can be overcome, often by a supermajority vote: in the United States, a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate can override a presidential veto. Article I, Section 7, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution Some vetoes, however, are absolute and cannot be overridden. For example, in the United Nations Security Council, the permanent members ( China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) have an absolute veto over any Security Council resolution. In many cases, the veto power can only be used to prevent changes to the status quo. But some veto powers also include the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ward (electoral Subdivision)
A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to the area (e.g. William Morris Ward in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, England). It is common in the United States for wards to simply be numbered. Origins The word “ward”, for an electoral subdivision, appears to have originated in the Wards of the City of London, where gatherings for each ward known as “wardmotes” have taken place since the 12th century. The word was much later applied to divisions of other cities and towns in England and Wales and Ireland. In parts of northern England, a ''ward'' was an administrative subdivision of a county, very similar to a hundred in other parts of England. Present day In Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, wards are an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council member elected by voters. Etymology The title is derived from the Old English title of '' ealdorman'', literally meaning "elder man", and was used by the chief nobles presiding over shires. Similar titles exist in some Germanic countries, such as the Swedish language ', the Danish, Low German language ', and West Frisian language ', the Dutch language ', the (non-Germanic) Finnish language ' (a borrowing from the Germanic Swedes next door), and the High German ', which all mean "elder man" or "wise man". Usage by country Australia Many local government bodies used the term "alderman" in Australia. As in the way local councils have been modernised in the United Kingdom and Ireland, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick to the northeast and Quebec to the north. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east and southeast, and Long Island Sound is to the southwest. Boston is New England's largest city, as well as the capital of Massachusetts. Greater Boston is the largest metropolitan area, with nearly a third of New England's population; this area includes Worcester, Massachusetts (the second-largest city in New England), Manchester, New Hampshire (the largest city in New Hampshire), and Providence, Rhode Island (the capital of and largest city in Rhode Island). In 1620, the Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony), Pilgrims, Puritan Separatists from England, established Plymouth Colony, the second successful English settlement in America, following ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States Secretary of State from 1817 to 1825. During his long diplomatic and political career, Adams also served as an ambassador, and as a member of the United States Congress representing Massachusetts in both chambers. He was the eldest son of John Adams, who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801, and First Lady Abigail Adams. Initially a Federalist like his father, he won election to the presidency as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, and in the mid-1830s became affiliated with the Whig Party. Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, Adams spent much of his youth in Europe, where his father served as a diplomat. After returning to the United States, Adams established a successful legal practice in Boston. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massachusetts Constitutional Convention Of 1820–1821
The Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1820–1821 met in order to consider amendments to the Constitution of Massachusetts. It resulted in the adoption of the first nine amendments. Several other proposals were rejected. Background Modernization and demographic changes put severe strain on the system set up in the 1780 constitution. New England was the epicenter of the American Industrial Revolution, and urbanization in mill towns and coastal ports led to cities several times larger than seen before in Massachusetts. Apportionment of the General Court was one of the biggest issues leading to calls for a convention. Under the old constitution all towns in Massachusetts were entitled to a representative, with the most populous towns entitled to a few extra representatives. The growth of larger urban towns like Boston caused greater dis-proportionality within this system, and the continual increase in the number of towns in the western part of the state meant the legisla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Town Meeting
Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with town hall meetings held by state and national politicians to answer questions from their constituents, which have no decision-making power. Town meeting has been used in portions of the United States, principally in New England, since the 17th century. The format has been characterized as an example of deliberative democracy, and served as a prominent case study in democratic theory. Overview Town meeting is a form of local government practiced in the U.S. region of New England since colonial times and in some western states since at least the late 19th century. Typically conducted by New England towns, ''town meeting'' can also refer to meetings of other governmental bodies, such as school districts or water districts. While the us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston City Council
The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no limit on the number of terms an individual can serve. Boston uses a strong-mayor form of government in which the city council acts as a check against the power of the executive branch, the mayor. The Council is responsible for approving the city budget; monitoring, creating, and abolishing city agencies; making land use decisions; and approving, amending, or rejecting other legislative proposals. The leader of the City Council is the president and is elected each year by the Council. A majority of seven or more votes is necessary to elect a councillor as president. When the mayor of Boston is absent from the city, or vacates the office, the City Council president serves as acting mayor. The president leads Council meetings and appoint ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
