The Meeting House 1756-1833

Cambridge’s forth meetinghouse, 1756-1833, was the site of influential meetings before and during The Revolutionary War. 

In the years preceding the Revolutionary War the selectmen of Cambridge voted on controversial issues, which were affecting the entire colony. At a town meeting, on October 14, 1765, the towns people express hatred for the Stamp Act, recently imposed on the colony, and demanded its repeal due to its infringement on their basic and natural rights. As the years passed and British Parliament placed even more taxes on the colonies, the Cambridge town meetings expressed that the taxes were a violent attack on their liberties.

As tensions between Britain and the colonies grew, town meetings started to reflect the interests of the colonists. In November of 1772 a Boston town meeting voted to establish a committee, which would state the rights of the colony, and a Cambridge town meeting in the meeting house voted in favor of the committee on December 14th. 

On November 26, 1773 a Cambridge town meeting, lead by Ebenezer Stedman, expressed their disgust of the Tea Act. The next month the Boston Tea Party took place. Eventually the port of Boston was closed as punishment and by July 28, 1774 a Cambridge town meeting in the meeting house voted to give donations to the people of Boston who were suffering due to the closure of the port.

Within months The American Revolution had begun and Cambridge became the headquarters for what would become the Continental Army. When George Washington took command of the American Army in Cambridge he used the meetinghouse regularly as a place of worship.

On March 27, 1776, at a Cambridge town meeting, the town voted whether or not they would abide by absolute independence if the Continental Congress declared it. Cambridge voted unanimously to “engage with our lives and fortunes to support them in the measure.” 

In the years following The Siege of Boston, Cambridge still voted on many issues pertaining to The Revolution. On May 25, 1778 the town tried to ratify the Massachusetts Constitution, but it was rejected. Most towns in the commonwealth rejected the state constitution. The town also voted unanimously for the Bill of Rights in 1780 at the meetinghouse.

 

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