Massachusetts Bay Province (New England)

The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony and one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on 7 October 1691 and included the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Plymouth Colony, the Province of Maine, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The royal government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay existed until early October 1774, when members of the General Court of Massachusetts met in opposition to the Massachusetts Government Act and established the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in preparation for a declaration of independence from Britain and the Revolutionary War.