A New England State of the American Union, lies on the Atlantic seaboard between New Hampshire and Vermont on the N. and Rhode Island and Connecticut on the S., with New York on its western border; has a long irregular coast-line and an uneven surface, rising to the Green Mountains in the W.; the scenery is of great beauty, but the soil is in many places poor, the farms raising chiefly hay and dairy produce; the winters are severe; Massachusetts is the third manufacturing State of the Union; its industries include cotton, woollen, worsted, clothing, leather and leather goods, iron and iron goods; school education throughout the State is free and of a high standard; there are several universities and colleges, including Harvard, Boston, Williams, and Amherst; founded in 1620 by the Pilgrim Fathers, Massachusetts had many hardships in early days, and was long the scene of religious intolerance and persecution; the War of Independence began at Bunker's Hill and Lexington in 1776; the capital and chief seaport is Boston; Worcester has machinery factories, Springfield paper, and Lowell cotton mills; Concord was for long a literary centre.