Massachusetts. General Court. Committee to Examine Charges for Support of French Neutrals.

During the French and Indian War, the inhabitants of the British colony of Nova Scotia known as Acadians were considered of dubious loyalty because of their French origin. Following the British capture of Fort Beauséjour from the French in the spring of 1755, orders were issued to remove these so-called French neutrals from their homes and to transport them to other British colonies, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia.

Upon the arrival of French neutrals in Massachusetts, its General Court appointed a joint committee (Resolves 1755-1756, c 186 (Nov. 7, 1755)), to direct their disposition in the province. Per St 1755-56, c 23 (Dec. 24, 1755), county courts, justices of the peace, local overseers of the poor, or selectmen were directed to employ, bind out, or support such individuals as they would any town inhabitant, but also, as would not be the case for their own indigent citizens, to submit accounts of expenses incurred thereby to the provincial secretary for reimbursement until Apr. 10, 1756.

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