  Within a first-order framework, we comprehensively examine the role played by
boundary conditions in the canonical formulation of a completely general
two-dimensional gravity model. Our analysis particularly elucidates the
perennial themes of mass and energy. The gravity models for which our arguments
are valid include theories with dynamical torsion and so-called generalized
dilaton theories (GDTs). Our analysis of the canonical action principle (i)
provides a rigorous correspondence between the most general first-order
two-dimensional Einstein-Cartan model (ECM) and GDT and (ii) allows us to
extract in a virtually simultaneous manner the ``true degrees of freedom'' for
both ECMs and GDTs. For all such models, the existence of an absolutely
conserved (in vacuo) quantity C is a generic feature, with (minus) C
corresponding to the black-hole mass parameter in the important special cases
of spherically symmetric four-dimensional general relativity and standard
two-dimensional dilaton gravity. The mass C also includes (minimally coupled)
matter into a ``universal mass function.'' We place particular emphasis on the
(quite general) class of models within GDT possessing a Minkowski-like
groundstate solution (allowing comparison between $C$ and the
Arnowitt-Deser-Misner mass for such models).
