New England Town Meeting Self-Government

Timeline

1. 1630–1635Boston · New EnglandAfter Winthrop and other Puritans arrived in 1630, towns were quickly established in Boston, Salem, and elsewhere; adult church members elected selectmen, passed local regulations, and decided public expenditures at town meetings.
2. 1636–1640New England · New EnglandIn the mid-to-late 1630s the town meeting model spread with migrants to newly established colonies such as Connecticut and Rhode Island, forming a self-governance network with the town as the basic political unit, markedly different from the English county tradition.
3. 1776New England · New EnglandAfter American independence, many New England towns retained annual or regular town meetings, voting directly on budgets and local affairs, regarded as an important historical legacy of American grassroots democracy and civic self-government.