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A colonial meeting house was a meeting house used by communities in colonial New England. Built using tax money, the colonial meeting house was the focal point of the community where the town's residents could discuss local issues, conduct religious worship, and engage in town business.
Town meetings have been practiced in the U.S. region of New England since colonial times and in some western states since at least the late 19th century. [3] Town meeting can also refer to meetings of other governmental bodies such as regional water or school districts .
Within a couple of years, the growth of the colonies population and geographic distance made these meetings impractical and they were substituted for representative assemblies. Massachusetts Bay Colony switched to a representative system for its General court in 1634, and Plymouth colony for its General court in 1638. [2] Many New England towns ...
All the New England colonies required towns to set up schools. The Mayflower Pilgrims made a law in Plymouth Colony that each family was responsible to teach their children how to read and write, for the express purpose of reading the Bible. In 1642, the Massachusetts Bay Colony made education compulsory, and other New England colonies followed.
New England towns are often governed by a town meeting, an assembly of eligible town residents. The great majority of municipal corporations in New England are based on the town model; there, statutory forms based on the concept of a compact populated place are uncommon, though elsewhere in the U.S. they are prevalent.
A New England town meeting in Huntington, Vermont. New England town meetings were derived from meetings held by church elders, and are still an integral part of government in many New England towns. At such meetings, any citizen of the town may discuss issues with other members of the community and vote on them.
The Dominion of New England in America (1686–1689) was a short-lived administrative union of English colonies covering all of New England and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies, with the exception of the Delaware Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania.
Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island were founded as corporate colonies. New England's corporate colonies were virtually independent of royal authority and operated as republics where property owners elected the governor and legislators. [19] Proprietary colonies were owned and governed by individuals known as proprietors.