On this day 250 years ago, members of the Massachusetts General Court (i.e., the Massachusetts Assembly) gathered in Salem, Massachusetts as originally scheduled in defiance of Governor Gage’s proclamation of September 28 dissolving the Assembly. The members waited all day to see if the Governor would reconvene the Assembly in accordance with the Massachusetts Charter.  At the end of the day, they declared that they had met their obligation under the Charter, but that the Governor had not, so they declared that there was no working government in the colony. The next day the representatives voted to make the Massachusetts Provincial Congress the governing body of the colony “to promote the true interests of his Majesty, in the peace, welfare and prosperity of the Province.”

Sources: https://historicalnerdery01.blogspot.com/2023/12/they-brought-together-every-ounce.html; https://blog.amrevpodcast.com/2018/06/episode-049-provincial-congress-of.html; https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.journalsofeach177417mass/?sp=17&st=image

Also on this day in Philadelphia, William Goddard’s petition to establish a Constitutional Post was presented in Congress.

Source: https://www.si.edu/object/william-goddards-petition-continental-congress:npm_1984.1127.4