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Оглавление[Cambridge Agreement on a Town Council]
Signed only thirteen months after the town meeting was institutionalized in Cambridge, this document indicates the difficulty that early colonies had with involving the entire population in day-to-day decision making, despite their small size (see The Massachusetts Agreement on the Legislature [10]). The move from a more or less direct democracy to a representative system closely watched by a town meeting was typical for the early colonies. The degree to which the selectmen tended to dominate the political system usually depended on the degree of religious fervor informing the colony. The more tightly religious a colony was, the more likely that the selectmen came from an oligarchy associated with the church; the more heterogeneous and open the social system was, the more likely that the town meeting continued to control the selectmen.
The text is taken from The Records of the Town of Cambridge (Formerly Newtowne) Massachusetts, 1630–1703 (Cambridge: University Press, John Wilson and Son, 1901), 1: 11–12. Spelling is the original, and the text complete, except for the undecipherable words, which are indicated by brackets.
At A Gennerall Meeting of the whole Towne Itt was Agreed uppon by a Joynt Consent that 7 menn should be Chossen to doe the whole bussines of the Towne and soe to Continew untell the ffirst Monday in November next and untell new be Chossen in their Room soe ther was then Elected and Chossen
John Haynes Esqr
mr Symon Bradstreet
John Taylcott
Wiliam Westwood
John White
William Wadsworth
James Olmstead Constable
Itt is further Ordered by a Joynt Consent that whatsoever these Townsmen thuse Chosse [ ] shall doe In the Compas of ther tyme shall stand in as full force as if the whole Town did the same either for makeing of new orders or altering of ould ones
ffurther it is ordered that whatsoever prson they shall send for to help anny bussness and he shall refus to Come they shall have power to lay a fine uppon him and to gather [ ]
ffurther it is ordered that they shall have [ ] to attent uppon them to Imploy aboute any bussines at a publik charge
ffurther Itt is ordered that they shall meet every first Monday in a Mounth at [ ] in the After Noone accordinge to the former [ ]
Also ther was Chossen to Joyne [ ] James Olmstead Constable John Beniamen Daniell Denison Andrew Warner William Spencer which 5 acordinge to the order of Cour[t] to survey the Towne lands and enter [ ] a book Apointed for that purpose
Itt is further ordered that these 5 men meet every first Monday in the Mounth at the Constables house in the [ ] at the Ringing of the bell
