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Cambridge town, 1750-1846.
The period in the history of
Cambridge which we are about to consider naturally divides itself into two portions, the line of separation between which is furnished by the Revolution.
The marked differences in the career of the town, caused by its change from a township in the
Royal Province of
Massachusetts Bay to one of the fundamental parts which constituted the
State of Massachusetts, would attract the attention of the most casual observer.
Geographically it had already been greatly reduced in area.
During the period which we are considering it was to be still further curtailed by the incorporation of
Brighton and
West Cambridge as separate townships, while as a slight compensation the area along the river west of Sparks Street was to be taken from
Watertown and added to the jurisdiction of
Cambridge.
As we first view the town in 1750, there is much that is picturesque in the placid life of its inhabitants, who numbered perhaps 1500, and who were settled mainly in the neighborhood of the college.
The outlying settlement at
Menotomy had already taken its first step towards separate life as a township.
It had been incorporated as a precinct, and a church had been regularly organized there.
The interest taken by the inhabitants of the body of the town, in the struggle of the residents south of the
Charles River for similar privileges, was far greater during the years of political inaction which preceded the attempts of
Great Britain to tax the colonies than that produced by the slight participation of the town in the prolonged contest between the colonies and the
French and
Indians.
As early as 1744, an attempt had been made to secure the necessary legislation for the establishment of a separate parish south of the
Charles.
Unsuccessful at that time, the petitioners renewed the contest in 1748, only to be defeated.
In
