IV. THE FINANCIAL HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. From the Organization of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the American Revolution. From the Organization of the Massachusetts Bay Company to the American Revolution. BY CHARLES H. J. DOUGLAS, PH.D., NEW YORK. PREFACE. To whatever degree the financial history of Massachusetts during the period of its dependency upon the British crown may be lacking in interest, as compared with the financial history of the commonwealth during the period of its membership in the American Union, I found that a patient and thorough investigation and a discriminating exposition of the financial phenomena of the earlier period were necessary antecedents to an intelligent investigation and interpretation of the far more complex financial phenomena of the later one, Viewed as chapters preliminary to the main discussion of the theme, I hope that the following pages will prove neither uninteresting nor uninstructive to those who would become acquainted with the facts in the financial history of one of the most conservative, at the same time that she is one of the most progressive, of American commonwealths. It is my purpose in a future essay to treat of the financial history of New England from the earliest settlement to the present time. I offer no apology for any departure I may have made from the conventional treatment of financial themes, in the relatively large proportion of space which I have devoted to the exposition of administrative features, and the correspondingly small space to numerical statements, in the treatment of those periods in the history of Massachusetts when not only her financial legislation was taking permanent shape, but her financial records are all but worthless for purposes of accurate and valuable generalization, on account of their fragmentary and unsystematic character. If the literary style which I have adopted appears at times |