One of the first major battles of the Revolutionary War was the Battle of Bunker Hill, at which American forces held the British off until the last possible moment and inspired Patriots up and down the Atlantic Coast. Soldiers and militiamen from Massachusetts fought elsewhere in the war and played an important part in the ultimate victory. After the brief interlude under the Articles of Confederation and the near-tragedy of Shays's Rebellion, the people of Massachusetts were ready for a new government. The result was the Constitution, which Massachusetts ratified on February 6, 1788.
Then began a new era, the gradual development of the industrial interests that were eventually to absorb the capital and enterprise heretofore devoted almost entirely to commerce. During the Embargo and the War of 1812 the American States had been forced to manufacture essential goods, which could not then be brought across the sea from England. In 1816 a protective tariff was enacted to shield the infant industries from foreign competition. Gradually manufacturing became more and more concentrated in New England and particularly in Massachusetts. Waterpower was plentiful, the labor of farmers trained in handcraft was available, and capital was looking for new investments. In 1814 Francis Cabot Lowell set up his perfected power loom in Waltham, and the textile industry, which was to transform Lawrence, Lowell, Fall River, New Bedford, and other cities into great manufacturing centers, was off to a flying start.
The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 accelerated the decline of agriculture. Products from the fertile West now moved cheaply and rapidly to New England, and competition was difficult. Massachusetts farmers went West or left their farms for the factories. Young women were also employed in great numbers in the factories, for the first time; this allowed women to be more accepted in public life, and later, in political activism. Dismayed by the westward movement of its people, the Commonwealth attempted to stay the trend by reforming governmental and religious affairs.
The Constitutional Convention of 1820 liberalized the Constitution in a number of ways, giving the people a greater voice in their government, and in 1833 another Constitutional Amendment completely separated Church and State. The course of government had moved nearer to the goal of a democratic people.