Book Description

Excerpt from Boston and Its Story, 1630-1915 Boston has been an important place for more than two hundred and fifty years. Its history is intimately bound up with that of Massachusetts, of which it is the capital, and of New England, of which it has long been the metropolis. It has suffered many vicissitudes and undergone striking transformations in respect to territory and topography, as well as the form of its government, but from the beginning it has been a seed-plot and nursery of advanced political and social ideas and experiments. The purpose of these pages is twofold: (1) to furnish a clue to the history of Boston as an individual community that, owing to the force of circumstances and the spirit of its people, has played a conspicuous and influential part in the larger development of Massachusetts, of New England and of the nation; and (2) to indicate the nature of the events that gave historical significance to memorable sites and objects that have survived the ravages of time and still excite interest and veneration. So it is not a history that we present to our readers, but rather a relation or narrative concerning the development of "a poor country village" into a great city of vast and varied interests and of commanding rank. It is not our purpose to attempt to recount with fulness of detail all or even most of the deeds of which Bostonians are proud, or to pass judgment upon men or measures involved in controversial questions as to morals or politics that once seemed of vital moment and are still capable of arousing warm discussion. Such matters are better left to technical historians and partisan pamphleteers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.