Poe's Life in Boston

PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY
"An Act for Preventing Stage Plays and Other Theatrical Entertainments"

Due to increasing public pressure, this 1750 law reinforcing an earlier Puritan prohibition was rarely enforced by 1794, despite objections to its repeal by Massachusetts Governor Samuel Adams and his predecessor John Hancock who warned against "Evils which might flow from Theatrical exhibitions" especially as performed by "Aliens & Foreigners, [who] have lately entered the state, & in the Metropolis of the Government, under advertisements insulting to the habits, & education of the Citizens" until his death on Oct. 8, 1793.

Courtesy of the Massachusetts Archives