County conventions gathered in rural Massachusetts throughout 1786-87 to protest the fiscal policies of the General Court, as well as the Massachusetts Constitution that had been ratified in 1780. As in the years before the American Revolution, these conventions mobilized public opinion and expressed popular grievances, which are enumerated here. Many of them deal with the lack of money and the feeling that the state government should reside in Boston. During the 1780s, supporters of the Massachusetts government and the state Constitution condemned county conventions as illegal forums dominated by foolish rustics and demagogues.
Bonney, Benjamin. “Convention at Hatfield article in the Hampshire Gazette.” Hampshire Gazette, September 13, 1786. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l04-124/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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