On this day 250 years ago, the Massachusetts Assembly convened in Salem, Massachusetts instead of in the capital of Boston. Governor Gage had ordered the Massachusetts legislature to convene in Salem to remove the legislature from the pressure of Boston mobs. However, the Assembly’s first order of business was to complain about the removal from Boston and to demand that that it be returned to its normal meeting place.

Source: https://blog.amrevpodcast.com/2018/05/episode-045-governing-from-salem.html