Workers were first recruited（征募）from local farms and villages，but in the mid－1840s the first non－English，immigrants，the Irish，arrived．The long British cultural hege－mony was over．The mills cities grew rapidly，sometimes doubling their population in less than a decade．As waterpower sites proved inadequate for large－scale factory expansion，steam engines powered by coal were used．
Nevertheless，mill workers expressed growing discontent（不满）over working conditions．The Civil War was entered with great enthusiasm，especially because Massachusetts had a long history of abolitionist（废奴主义者）sentiment．The state was a major arsenal（兵工厂，军械库）for the war，with guns，blankets（毯子），tents，and shoes produced in vast quantities．
World War I，which caused a vast increase in industrial production，improved the lot of workers，but not of Boston policemen，who staged and lost their famous strike in 1919．For his part in breaking the strike，Gov．Calvin Coolidge won national fame and went on to become vice president and then president，the third Massachusetts citizen（after John Adams and John Quincy Adams）to hold the highest office in the land．The Sacco－Vanzetti Case ，following the police strike，attracted international attention，as liberals raged over the seeming lack of regard for the spirit of the law in a state that had given the nation such an eminent（杰出的，有名的）jurist（法理学家）as Oliver Wendell Holmes（1841－1935）．Labor unions finally came into their own in the 1930s under the New Deal．
The late 19th century was the state’s greatest industrial period．Massachusetts was a national leader in the production not only of textiles and shoes but also of textile and shoe******（制鞋修补皮鞋）mach inery，silverware（银器），machine tools，glass，paper，rubber products，locomotives（机车，火车头），guns，and fire en gines．From 1900to 1910，however，many factories，which had become increasingly obsolescent（荒废的），closed．Textile companies established new mills and new corporate headquarters in the southern states．The tenements（房屋）of the mill cities were aging and unable to meet the most modest health and building standards．
Service industries，however，were beginning to assume a new role in the Massachusetts economy．Banking and insurance，important in the era of industrial expansion and transportation growth，reached out for new markets in the West．Retailing（零售业）and wholesalingwholesale（批发）expanded to serve the new urban populations．Many office and clerical jobs were created in cities like Boston，Worcester，and Springfield．
The Depression of the 1930s was especially severe in those communities already hard hit by the closing of textile and shoe factories．World War II temporarily（临时）reversed（翻转）this trend as industry spurted forward again during World War II，and in the postwar era the state continued to develop．
In the post－World War II era Massachusetts has played a national leadership role in social and political activities．
Agriculture and fishing are in decline，but beginning in the 1950s，Massachusetts’s economy generally has been revitalized（新生），with electronics，nonelectrical machinery，and computer－oriented industries stimulating（刺激的）growth．Service industries have continued to expand，especially in the areas of banking，insurance，health care，and higher education．
Politically，the state again assumed national importance with the 1960election of Senator John F．Kennedy as the nation’s 35th President．In 1974，Michael S．Dukakis，a Democrat，was elected governor．He lost to Edward King in 1978，but won again in 1982and was reelected（重选，改选）in 1986．In 1988he ran for president，losing to George H．W．Bush．Dukakis decided not to run again for governor．
At the end of the decade effects of a nationwide recession（工商业之衰退，不景气）and the burden of a huge state budget hit Massachusetts hard，but in the 1990s there was a substantial economic recovery，spearheaded（充当先锋）by growth in small high－tech companies．
The principal problems facing the state，however，lie in its urban areas，where the incidence of violent crime，the distribution and use of illegal drugs，and the general deterioration（退化）of social services are on the increase．
Today，leaders are striving to improve air and water pollution，housing shortages，and racial issues．
Governor州长
Romney州长在商业和公共服务业上是一位显著的州长。在2002年的冬季奥运会陷于一片争论中，并且面临着严重的财政危机时，Romney州长被任命为盐湖组织委员会的主席和执行总裁。尽管这样的挑战看起来令人有些畏缩，但在妻子Ann的鼓励和在对曾经是成功商人、连任三届密歇根州长而且是志愿者倡导者的父亲George Romney的怀念中，于是他承担起这项任务。
Governor Romney has been an effective leader in both the business and public service worlds．With the 2002Winter Olympics mired（陷入）in controversy and facing serious financial crisis，Governor Romney was asked to become President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee．Although the challenge seemed daunting（使人畏缩的），he was compelled to assume the task by both the urgings of his wife，Ann，and by the memory of his father，George Romney，who had been a successful businessman，three－term Michigan Governor and tireless（不疲劳的）advocate of volunteerism（志愿者）．
In his three years in Salt Lake，Governor Romney erased（抹去，擦掉）a 379million operating deficit，organized 23，000volunteers，galvanized（刺激，激励）community spirit，oversaw an unprecedented security mobilization to ensure public safety and led one of the most successful Olympics in our country’s history．
From 1978to 1984，Mr．Romney was a Vice President of Bain &Company，Inc．，the Boston－based management consulting firm．Later，as the company’s CEO，he led it through a highly successful turnaround（转变，（经济，营业等的）突然好转）．Today，Bain &Company has 25offices worldwide and over 2000employees．
In 1984，Mr．Romney founded Bain Capital，one of the nation’s most successful venture capital（〈美〉风险资本）and investment companies．Bain Capital founded，acquired or invested in hundreds of companies including Staples，Bright Horizons Family Solutions，Domino’s，Sealy，Brookstone，and The Sports Authority．