Historic Town Meeting

<p>Join a Park Ranger for a FREE 30 minute interactive program at 2 p.m. in the Great Hall as we recreate a historic meeting. </p> <p>The following town meeting reenactments will be offered throughout the summer:</p> <h3>"Declaring Independence" 1776 Town Meeting</h3> <p>250 years ago, citizens gathered at local town meetings throughout Massachusetts. Each town had to determine if they supported their delegates decision to declare independence from Great Britain. How will Boston vote? </p> <h3>"Rocking the Cradle" 1854 Town Meeting</h3> <p>In May of 1854 Federal Marshals arrested <a id="CP___PAGEID=6617736,-god-made-me-a-man-not-a-slave-the-arrest-of-anthony-burns.htm,30335|" href="../../articles/-god-made-me-a-man-not-a-slave-the-arrest-of-anthony-burns.htm">Anthony Burns</a> under the <a id="CP___PAGEID=7378790,fugitive-slave-laws-boston.htm,31093|" href="../../articles/000/fugitive-slave-laws-boston.htm">1850 Fugitive Slave Law</a>. Immediately following Burns’ arrest, Bostonians gathered at <a id="CP___PAGEID=6504459,faneuil-hall.htm,30224|" href="../../places/faneuil-hall.htm">Faneuil Hall</a> to discuss whether they would abide by this federal law or appeal to a higher law of freedom and liberty for all. The eyes of the nation were firmly fixed upon Boston. How will Boston respond?</p> <h3>"Woman's Tea Party" 1873 Town Meeting</h3> <p>On December 15, 1873 Boston’s suffragists held the <a id="https://www.nps.gov/articles/boston-womens-tea-party.htm|" href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/boston-womens-tea-party.htm">New England Women's Tea Party</a>, a massive suffrage rally in the Great Hall of Faneuil Hall. Leading suffragists, including Lucy Stone, Frederick Douglass, and Mary Livermore, delivered rousing speeches to a crowd of more than three thousand, furthering the suffrage movement in Boston. Will Boston support women's suffrage?</p>