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A state of the northeast United States. It was admitted as the 23rd state in 1820. First explored by Europeans in 1602, the region was annexed by Massachusetts in 1652. Maine's northern boundary with New Brunswick was settled by a treaty with Great Britain in 1842. Augusta is the capital and Portland the largest city. Population: 1,320,000.
For more information on Maine, visit Britannica.com.
For many, Maine appears on the map as a peninsula, the northeasternmost extension of the United States. However, there is nothing peninsular about Maine. In fact, geographically, it is the southern edge of a much larger land mass that extends south from Hudson Bay and the Canadian shield and from the east through the great timber lands of eastern Canada and the complex coastline of the western North Atlantic. Maine's history has been shaped by these natural characteristics and the social and economic conditions spawned by its unique positioning. Maine is at once at the center of a vibrant natural corridor that produces staple products and on the outermost edge of a great political institution.
Maine's first inhabitants, the Paleoindians (a term used to describe early inhabitants of America, not yet distinguished into modern tribal groups), arrived in the area in the wake of the retreating glaciers 11,000 to 10,000 years ago, where they encountered a relatively barren landscape. The changing environment brought about a new culture, known as the Archaic, between 10,000 and 8,500 years ago. This new culture exploited new resources based on changing forest and sea conditions and developed advanced woodworking skills. Agriculture arrived in what is now New England a few hundred years before European contact. The Native peoples in Maine developed the common corn–beans–squash regimen of crop production. However, those east of the Kennebec River remained dependent upon hunting and gathering.
The Colonial Period
The first documented case of European exploration in the Gulf of Maine was by Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524. This was followed by a series of failed colonizing attempts between 1602 and 1607. Most Europeans were unable to adapt to the harsh environment and the lack of familiar natural resources. The first successful settlements along the Maine coast were those established by European fishing ventures, which supplied winter residents in order to lay claim to the best fishing grounds earlier in the season. By 1610, the Jamestown Colony began to send fishing vessels to the Maine coast. As the activities increased, year-round fishing stations were established at Damaris-cove Island, Cape Piscataque, Monhegan Island, Pemaquid, and Richmond Island.
European activity in Maine began to increase as more settlers began to recognize the wealth that could be produced from Maine's forests, rivers, and seas. Both internal conflict within England, France, and among Natives, and external conflict between the colonies characterized the settlement of the Maine territory. In order to extend their territorial control, the Massachusetts Bay Colony set up townships at York (1630), Cape Porpus (ca. 1630), Saco (1630), Kittery (ca. 1631), Scarborough (ca. 1631), Falmouth (1633), North Yarmouth (1636), and Wells (1642). The restoration of Charles II to the throne of England was accompanied by further territorial claims from France. By 1670, Maine's settlers moved from a subsistence agriculture base to a profitable export trade of cattle, corn, fish, and lumber products. Both the English and the French inhabitants of Maine lived within a family-based economy with men working in the fields, upon the seas, and in the lumber camps, while women and children worked at home to provide foodstuffs such as milk, butter, and eggs, as well as clothing and tools.
French activities in Maine increased after 1670 when they reoccupied a fort at the mouth of the Penobscot River. For the French, Maine remained primarily a fishing, lumbering, and, most importantly, fur trading center; however, internal conflict between rival French claims hindered French settlement efforts. By the mid-1600s, nearly 75 percent of Maine's original Native inhabitants had died, mostly from European diseases. The survivors were often uprooted and forced to relocate. The arrival of a European-based fur trade further altered the Natives' traditional relationship with the environment. Competition among tribal bands for fur-bearing animals and friction with the colonizing nations transformed the region into a volatile political area, bringing an era of brutal warfare. The Wabanakis in Maine comprised about 20,000 people before contact. Relations with Europeans began to sour early when explorers captured natives for slaves. Conflicting alliances with Europeans fractionalized the Wabanakis and plagues further weakened the solidarity of the "People of the Dawn." As Natives further became dependent upon European firearms and ammunition, the fur trade took on a desperate tone. Beavers grew scarce, forcing the Wabanakis to expand into rival lands. This competition resulted in a series of violent clashes between the tribes known as the "Beaver Wars."
The internal Native conflicts overlapped with a series of European conflicts. Native–English violence during King Philip's War (1675–1676), King William's War (1689–1697), and Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) brought a universal declaration of war by Massachusetts on all Maine Indians in August 1703. Drummer's War (1721– 1727) saw the collapse of Wabanaki military and political power and a dramatic extension of English settlement. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) brought the final collapse of both Native and French military presence in the Maine territory. In May 1759, Massachusetts Governor Thomas Pownall led a force of 400 militia up the Penobscot River to attack Native settlements and construct Fort Pownall near the mouth of the river at Stockton Springs, ending the long land rivalry in Maine. Native families resettled upon ancestral lands, but in small, separate villages. Peace brought further English settlement eastward along the coast and up river valleys.
The American Revolution and Statehood
Maine's participation in the American Revolution reflected its maritime traditions. Tension first appeared over British regulations on timber use and the Royal Navy's monopoly on timber for shipbuilding. Friction over enforcing the Nonimportation Agreement led to the arrival of the British man-of-war Canceaux in Falmouth port. Militia captured its captain and some crew, but the men were quickly released. HMS Margaretta was captured by militia in Machias in June 1775. In October, the Canceaux returned to Falmouth and after warning the residents, bombarded the town and destroyed two-thirds of its structures. The power of the Royal Navy prevented most of Maine's inhabitants from participating directly in the American Revolution.
Maine's location as a borderland between the American colonies and the British holdings in Canada and Nova Scotia led to its use as a launching point of invasion into pro-British territories. Benedict Arnold marched his troops through Maine on his ill-fated attempt to capture Quebec. As they advanced up the Kennebec River in the fall of 1775 and north and west across the heights of land to the Chaudiere River, they encountered harsh weather and difficult travel. Many turned back, weakening the strength of the expedition. In October 1776 and May 1777, pro-American refugees from Nova Scotia launched two raids on Nova Scotia hoping to spark rebellion in the British colony. In the summer of 1779, a British expedition from Halifax arrived in Penobscot Bay and constructed Fort George at present-day Castine. Massachusetts maritime interests reacted by sending an armada of about forty vessels, which arrived on 25 July. Wracked by internal conflict and poor organization, the armada faltered and eventually was trapped by the Royal Navy. The Americans beached and burned their own vessels. The peace treaty of 3 September 1783 renounced British claims on Maine territories, but no definitive line was established as a border between Maine and the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec. Nor was any answer found for the fishing disputes that John Adams brought up during negotiations. Continued conflict over these issues persisted for generations, and even reappear today.
Internal friction began as soon as the Revolution concluded. The political debate quickly turned toward the issue of statehood. Maine's chief economies still relied on the sea, and therefore maritime interests took precedence over others. If Maine became a state independent of Massachusetts, the shippers would be forced to pay additional port charges as they entered Boston and New York. Challenging these maritime interests were back-country settlers, who sought more political power through statehood. These backcountry radicals were spurred on by national events such as Shay's Rebellion (1786–1787). Early test votes showed this division of interests, but equally important, these popular votes demonstrated the indifference many Mainers felt toward the issue: in one significant poll, only 4,598 bothered to vote.
The separatist movement gained momentum after the War of 1812. Maine's role in this conflict was again primarily a maritime one. Maine's economy was deeply affected by the Jeffersonian embargo and smuggling became a chief source of wealth for many small down-east towns that had, over the course of a century, built strong economic and social ties with their neighbors in the British Atlantic colonies. Maine ports also served as launching points for many wartime privateers who raided British shipping. During the war years, Eastport and Castine were invaded and held by British troops and naval vessels. By controlling the northern region of New England, Britain was able to perfect its blockade of the coast of the United States. By war's end, British troops occupied much of the settled area of the state. Britain, however, was eager to end the conflict and return to a profitable trade relation and therefore returned the occupied territory (along with northern Michigan and western New York).
The failure of Massachusetts to protect its Maine district touched off an emotional defense of the separatist movement. The economic rationale for remaining a part of Massachusetts crumbled when Congress passed a new coasting law in 1819, allowing American vessels to sail to any port from Maine to Florida without paying additional port charges or taxation. But the timing of Maine state-hood placed it squarely within the sectional issue of slavery extension. In 1820 Congress adopted the Missouri Compromise, as part of which Maine, a free state, and Missouri, a slave state, were admitted to the union.
Economic Development
Following statehood, Maine entered a phase of rapid economic development. The state's wealth was still tied to its ability to produce staple products, but unlike earlier production, this new phase incorporated commercial production and industrial production. As early as 1785, Acadian families from southern Quebec and northern New Brunswick began to migrate to the rich lands of the St. John Valley. For most of its early history, Maine's agricultural production was small-scale subsistence production based on a village economy. Spurred on by outside capital investment and new transportation networks in the form of superior roads and railroads, Maine's farms began to commercialize. As elsewhere in the United States, agricultural production was concentrated into larger farms, and specialized production became part of the national market economy.
Forestry also shifted from a small-scale side business of village farmers into a massive industry concentrated in the hands of a few corporations. Lumbering operations expanded as new networks were developed and larger trees could be transported from the deep interior over friction-free snow-and-ice roads. With the introduction of modern sawmill technology in the 1840s, Bangor became the center of Maine's lumbering industry, exporting more wood product than any other port in the world.
The second half of the nineteenth century saw the continuation of this trend as the lumber industry followed national trends in monopoly capitalism. In the 1880s, the wood-product industry shifted from lumber to pulp and paper. This new capital-intensive industry brought more out-of-state investment. Mill towns appeared in Maine's interior, most notably at Millinocket, built and run by the Great Northern Paper Company. Exemplifying the principles of monopoly capitalism, the Portland businessman Hugh J. Chrisholm and several other bankers and businessmen merged more than a score of New England and New York paper producers to form the International Paper Company. The changing costs of the lumbering business forced many smaller companies out of business, concentrating control in the hands of a few major players. Their wealth would not last for long; by 1915, the industry was in a decline as Canadian, Great Lakes states, and, later, southern producers entered the market. Natural depletion and substitute products shifted lumbering interest out of the state to southern and western regions of the nation.
While Maine had many staple economies, including potatoes, blueberries, ice, granite, and others, timber and seafood production proved to be the two most influential in Maine's history. Like the timber trade, the production of marine food products underwent significant changes during the nineteenth century. Traditionally, Maine specialized in salt cod production, but in the late nineteenth century Maine fishermen began to diversify their catch, marketing mackerel, menhaden, herring, sardines, and lobster. The southern plantations in the West Indies and later the American South provided early markets for North Atlantic seafood. But Maine's sea fisheries were part of a larger global economy that included most of the British colonies in the North Atlantic and in the West Indies. Urban expansion drastically increased the domestic market for fish products and Maine fishermen began to provide fish for the growing Catholic population of Boston and New York. During the early years, Maine's sea fisheries were conducted by small family-owned firms. Fish and fish products were carried by small vessels to larger ports in Portland, Gloucester, and Boston and from there to distant markets. This tie to out-of-state distributors characterized Maine's fisheries even more so during the second half of the nineteenth century.
Spurred by transportation developments like railroads, ice-cars, and larger schooners, the production and distribution of marine resources increased and took on an industrial form. Expensive trawl lines and nets replaced traditional forms of fishing. The fisheries became more capital-intensive and fishing production was concentrated in a handful of major firms in Gloucester and Boston. By the 1860s and 1870s, vessels were owned by large corporations. Huge wholesaling corporations were able to use price fixing to manipulate the market in their favor and limit competition. The repeal of government bounties and the replacement of the share system by a wage-labor system further hindered small-scale fishermen and created an industrial economy of fishing.
The Civil War and Postwar Politics
The Civil War played an important part not only in the state's history, but also in its modern folklore. Joshua Chamberlain of Brewer, a Bowdoin College graduate, commanded the Twentieth Maine at a pivotal moment on Little Round Top during the battle of Gettysburg, for which he received a Medal of Honor. Chamberlain went on to become a general and was wounded several times. Approximately 73,000 Mainers saw action during the war and many Maine women served as nurses, including Dorothea Dix of Hampden, who served as superintendent of women nurses during the war.
Maine state political leaders had been important players in the formation of the Republican Party in the 1880s, and their leadership was carried through the war and into reconstruction. Hannibal Hamlin won a strong following as an antislavery candidate in 1850 and later served as Abraham Lincoln's first vice president; William Pitt Fessenden served first as a senator and later as secretary of the Treasury; and James G. Blaine served as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was elected senator in 1876, and served as secretary of state in 1881 and from 1889 to 1892.
The legacy of the Civil War cemented Maine's loyalty to the Republican Party. The Republicans held state political power throughout the rest of the nineteenth century and oversaw the expansion of Maine's natural resource production and the concentration of industrial capitalism discussed earlier. The economic collapse of 1929 called into question Republican leadership and the Democratic lawyer and mayor of Lewiston, Louis J. Brann, was elected to the governor's office in 1932. However, Maine and Vermont were the only two states not to vote to reelect Franklin Roosevelt.
The Twentieth Century
President Roosevelt's New Deal brought in much-needed federal aid and the creation of numerous job opportunities. Although Maine's traditionalist culture accepted these changes slowly, the Civilian Conservation Corp recruited about sixteen thousand young men and women to work alongside the Maine Forest Service and proved to be an exceptional labor source for the creation of the Appalachian Trail. Under the Works Progress Administration, many women found employment in the canning industry and Maine farmers received funding for improvements in irrigation. The Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project, intended to provide hydroelectric power, was never completed, but during its planning stage it employed several hundred Maine workers.
Maine's maritime focus again proved to be of national significance during World War II. Maine had always had a strong shipbuilding tradition and during the war Bath Iron Works, on the Kennebec River, put this tradition into action by constructing 266 ships. In cooperation with Todd Shipbuilding in South Portland, the two firms employed more than 30,000 people, including 4,000 women.
Maine's postwar economic situation was grim, marked by textile mill closures, heavy migration from the state, and decline in its staple production. Rural poverty became endemic and the state's social services fell well behind the national average. In the 1950s, the Republican ascendancy was shaken, and under the leadership of Frank Morey Coffin and Edmund S. Muskie, the Democratic Party took control of the state government in 1954. Muskie's liberal agenda included environmental reform, minimum wage increases, hospital and school reform, and highway construction. During the 1960s, Mainers assumed a leading role in the nation's new environmental movement. As a U.S. senator, Muskie distinguished himself as the champion of national clean air and water legislation.
Maine's tourist industry became a profitable venture in the decades following the Civil War. The industry was a unique mixture of small-scale shops and folk traditions and large promotional developments launched by railroad, steamship-line, and hotel firms, including the Ricker family's Poland Spring House and spring water bottling company. Visitors were attracted by Maine's reputation for natural beauty, a healthy atmosphere, abundant fish and game resources, and its outdoor activities. A national obsession with an outdoor life quickened interest in Maine's wildlands, rivers, and lakes. The state government slowly became involved in the industry after 1870 with a series of legislative acts protecting Maine's natural wilderness and animal populations, while at the same time encouraging further road and hotel construction in previously remote areas.
The tourist industry gathered momentum during the nineteenth century and played a part in Maine's emergence as a leader in environmental protection in the 1960s. Maine residents have often accepted this tourist industry only reluctantly. Some of the biggest debates in its political arena stem directly from the tourist industry. As tourists flooded into southern Maine, many decided to stay and build vacation homes. This influx of wealthy "out-of-staters" drastically increased land taxes, forcing many long-term residents off their land. The conflict in land management between park land and commercial forest remains one of the most important political debates and few Mainers would shy away from offering their opinion.
Maine's economy continues at an uneven pace—strong in the southern cities and much weaker in the north and east. Maine political leaders have encouraged growth based on new communications, new technology, and an advanced service industry. However, traditionalist sentiment is difficult to overcome and the new technological service industry has not yet taken hold in many parts of Maine.
Bibliography
Clark, Charles E., James S. Leamon, and Karen Bowden, eds. Maine in the Early Republic: from Revolution to Statehood. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1988.
Clifford, Harold B. Maine and Her People, with a supplement by Charlotte L. Melvin on The Story of Aroostook, Maine's Last Frontier. 4th ed. Freeport, Me.: Bond Wheelwright, 1976.
Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonialists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill and Wang, 1983.
Duncan, Roger. Coastal Maine: A Maritime History. New York: Norton, 1992.
Judd, Richard W. Common Lands, Common People: The Origins ofConservation in Northern New England. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997.
Judd, Richard W., Edwin Churchill, and Joel W. Eastman, eds. Maine: The Pine Tree State from Prehistory to Present. Orono: University of Maine Press, 1995.
Longacre, Edward G. Joshua Chamberlain: The Soldier and theMan. Conshohocken, Pa.: Combined, 1999.
O'Leary, Wayne, M. Maine Sea Fisheries: The Rise and Fall of aNative Industry, 1830–1890. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996.
Sanders, Michael S. The Yard: Building a Destroyer at the Bath IronWorks. New York: Harper Collins, 1999.
Smith, David C. A History of Lumbering in Maine, 1861–1960. Orono: University of Maine Press, 1972.
Taylor, Alan. Liberty Men and Great Proprietor: The RevolutionarySettlement on the Maine Frontier, 1760–1820. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A Midwife's Tale: The Life of MarthaBallard, Based on Her Diary, 1785–1812. New York: Knopf, 1990.
Facts and Figures
Area, 33,215 sq mi (86,027 sq km). Pop. (2000) 1,274,923, a 3.8% increase since the 1990 census. Capital, Augusta. Largest city, Portland. Statehood, Mar. 15, 1820 (23d state). Highest pt., Mt. Katahdin, 5,268 ft (1,607 m); lowest pt., sea level. Nickname, Pine Tree State. Motto, Dirigo [I Direct]. State bird, chickadee. State flower, white pine cone and tassel. State tree, Eastern white pine. Abbr., Me.; ME
Geography
Located in the extreme northeast corner of the United States, Maine consists largely of a coastal plain of eroded valleys, with more resistant rock forming the generally mountainous west (the Longfellow Mts., an extension of the White Mts. and part of the great Appalachian system), Mt. Desert and other islands in the east, and isolated peaks including Katahdin (5,268 ft/1,606 m), the highest point in the state. Receding glaciers deposited long drift ridges across the countryside and dammed the valleys to form more than 2,200 lakes (Moosehead Lake is the largest) and to establish new, rugged watercourses for more than 5,000 streams and rivers. The major rivers are the St. John (which, with the St. Croix, forms part of the international boundary with New Brunswick), the Penobscot, the Kennebec, the Androscoggin, and the Saco. The sea has encroached on the low coastal valleys, leaving a jigsawed coastline of 3,500 mi (5,630 km), including numerous irregular and rocky islands offshore. East of Casco Bay the coast of Maine is rugged and wild, but farther west the shoreline has sandy beaches and marshy lowlands.
Over 80% of Maine is forested with great stands of white pine, hemlock, spruce, fir, and hardwoods. Sheltered by the woods and with abundant water from numerous lakes, particularly in the northern counties, wildlife includes moose, deer, black bear, and smaller animals; fish and fowl are also plentiful.
The population of Maine is centered on the cleared land along the coast and major rivers.
Economy
Maine's generally poor soil, short growing season, and remoteness from industrial and commercial centers have long militated against development and population growth. Lumbering, shipbuilding, and textile production have all enjoyed booms in the past, but changes in technology and competition from other states have always undercut the state's economic position.
In the 1980s, however, Maine successfully transformed a major portion of its economy into trade, service, and finance industries, the greatest growth occurring in and around Portland. Picturesque coastal and island resorts and the promise of tranquil outdoor life hold a strong appeal for tourists, recreational and seasonal visitors, and, increasingly, retirees, and tourism is an important contributor to the state's economy.
Many of Maine's traditional economic activities have experienced difficult times in recent years. Fishing, the state's earliest industry, has declined considerably, although lobsters are still caught in abundance. Lumbering—the first sawmill in America was built in 1623 on the Piscataqua River—dominated industry and the export trade from the days when the white pines provided masts for the British navy, but with the big trees largely exhausted, Maine loggers now produce chiefly pulp for papermaking. The proximity of harbors to forests early encouraged shipbuilding, which reached its peak in the 19th cent. With the disappearance of wooden ships and the related timber trade, commercial activity slackened. Portland, the largest port, now operates far below its substantial capacity, handling chiefly oil for the pipeline to Montreal. Bath Iron Works, which builds warships, remains the state's largest single-site employer.
Manufacturing is still the largest sector in the state's economy. Maine is a leading producer of paper and wood products, which are the most valuable of all manufactures in the state. Food products and transportation equipment are also important, but production of leather goods (especially shoes) has declined. The mineral wealth of the state is considerable. Many varieties of granite, including some superior ornamental types, have been used for construction throughout the nation. Sand and gravel, zinc, and peat are found in addition to stone. However, much of Maine's abundant natural and industrial resources remain undeveloped.
Agriculture has always struggled with adverse soil and climatic conditions. Since the opening of richer farmlands in the West, Maine has tended to concentrate on dairying, poultry raising and egg production, and market gardening for the region. The growing of potatoes, particularly in Aroostook County, was stimulated by the completion of the Aroostook RR in 1894. Blueberries, hay, and apples are other chief crops, and aquaculture is growing in importance.
Government and Higher Education
Maine is governed under its 1820 constitution as amended. The state has a two-house legislature of 35 senators and 151 representatives, all elected for two-year terms; the governor is elected for a four-year term and may be reelected once. Maine politics are noted for their unpredictability. Angus King, an independent, won the governorship in 1994 and again in 1998; he was succeeded by John Baldacci, a Democrat, elected in 2002 and reelected in 2006. The state elects two representatives and two senators to the U.S. Congress and has four electoral votes.
Among the state's leading educational institutions are Bowdoin College, at Brunswick; Colby College, at Waterville; Bates College, at Lewiston; the Univ. of Maine, with campuses at Orono and five other locations; and the Univ. of Southern Maine, at Portland.
History
Early Inhabitants and European Colonization
The earliest human habitation in what is now Maine can be traced back to prehistoric times, as evidenced by the burial mounds of the Red Paint people found in the south central part of the state. The Native Americans who came later left enormous shell heaps, variously estimated to be from 1,000 to 5,000 years old. At the time of settlement by Europeans the Abnaki were scattered along the coast and in some inland areas.
The coast of Maine, which may have been visited by the Norsemen, was included in the grant that James I of England awarded to the Plymouth Company, and colonists set out under George Popham in 1607. Their settlement, Fort St. George, on the present site of Phippsburg at the mouth of the Kennebec (then called the Sagadahoc) River, did not prosper, and the colonists returned to England in 1608. The French came to the area in 1613 and established a colony and a Jesuit mission on Mt. Desert Island; however, the English under Sir Samuel Argall expelled them.
In 1620 the Council for New England (successor to the Plymouth Company) granted Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason the territory between the Kennebec and Merrimack rivers extending 60 mi (97 km) inland. At this time the region became known as Maine, either to honor Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I, who was feudal proprietor of the province in France called Maine, or to distinguish the mainland from the offshore islands. Neglected after Gorges's death in 1647, Maine settlers came under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1652. King Philip's War (1675–76) was the first of many struggles between the British on one side and the French and Native Americans on the other, all of which slowed further settlement of Maine.
French influence, which had been reasserted east of the Penobscot, declined rapidly after 1688, when Sir Edmund Andros, royal governor of all New England, seized French fortifications there. After the colonists overthrew Andros, Massachusetts received a new charter (1691) that confirmed its hold on Maine. With Sir William Phips, a Maine native, as governor and the territorial question settled, local government and institutions in the Massachusetts tradition took root in Maine. Maine soon had prosperous fishing, lumbering, and shipbuilding industries.
Revolution and Economic Development
Dissatisfaction with British rule was first expressed openly after Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765; in protest, a mob at Falmouth (Portland) seized a quantity of the hated stamps. As conflicts increased between the colonies and England, nonimportation societies formed to boycott English goods sprang up in Maine. During the American Revolution Falmouth paid dearly for its defiance; it was devastated by a British fleet in 1775. In that same year Benedict Arnold led his grueling, unsuccessful expedition against Quebec through Maine.
During the war supplies were cut off and conflicts with Native Americans were frequent, but with American independence won, economic development was rapid in what was then called the District of Maine, one of the three admiralty districts of Massachusetts set up by the Continental Congress in 1775. However, the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812 interrupted the thriving commerce and turned the district toward industrial development.
Statehood and Prosperity
Agitation for statehood, which had been growing since the Revolution, now became widespread. Dissatisfaction with Massachusetts was aroused by the inadequate military protection provided during the War of 1812; by the land policy, which encouraged absentee ownership; and by the political differences between conservative Massachusetts and liberal Maine. The imminent admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave state hastened the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, and equality of power between North and South was preserved by admitting Maine as a free state in 1820, as part of the Missouri Compromise.
With Portland as its capital (moved to Augusta in 1832) the new state entered a prosperous period. During the first half of the 19th cent. Maine enjoyed its greatest population increase. A highly profitable timber trade was carried on with the West Indies, Europe, and Asia, and towns such as Bath became leaders in American shipbuilding. The long-standing Northeast Boundary Dispute almost precipitated border warfare between Maine and New Brunswick in the so-called Aroostook War of 1839; the controversy was settled by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Great Britain in 1842.
Political Issues since the 1850s
Political life was vigorous, particularly in the 1850s when the reluctance of the Democrats, who had been dominant since 1820, to take a firm antislavery stand swept the new Republican party into power. Hannibal Hamlin was a leading Republican politician and was vice president during Abraham Lincoln's first administration. Antislavery sentiment was strong, and Maine made sizable contributions of men and money to the Union in the Civil War. Generals Oliver O. Howard and Joshua L. Chamberlain were from Maine. For decades regulation of the liquor traffic was the chief political issue in Maine, and the state was the first to adopt (1851) a prohibition law. It was incorporated into the constitution in 1884 and was not repealed until 1934.
State politics entered a hectic stage in 1878 when the newly organized Greenback party combined with the Democrats to carry the election, ending more than 20 years of Republican rule. The following year the coalition was accused of manipulating election returns, a charge sustained by the state supreme court, which seated a rival legislature elected by the Republicans. In 1880 the fusionists were again successful, but from that time until the 1950s the state was generally Republican, providing that party with such national leaders as James G. Blaine, Thomas B. Reed, and Margaret Chase Smith, who in 1948 became the first Republican woman U.S. senator. Former U.S. Secretary of State Edmund S. Muskie, a Democrat, was elected governor in 1954. In 1964 and 1968 (when Muskie, then a U.S. senator, ran unsuccessfully for vice president) the state voted Democratic in the presidential election for the first time since 1912.
In 1969 personal and corporate income taxes were added to the sales tax within the state. Maine's population grew 13.2% during the 1970s and 9.2% during the 1980s, its largest increases since the 1840s. Environmental issues have occupied the state's attention in recent decades. In an attempt to revive native salmon populations, river logging was banned in the 1970s, and some dams have been removed or slated for removal. Maine voters narrowly defeated several referendum proposals to hasten the scheduled 1997 closing of the nuclear power plant at Wiscasset. The effects of clear-cutting practices in Maine's forests and of large-scale fish farming along the coast were also focuses of debate.
Bibliography
See Federal Writers' Project, Maine, a Guide Down East (2d ed. 1970); L. D. Rich, The Coast of Maine (3d ed. 1970); M. Dibner, Seacoast Maine, People and Places (1973); E. Schriver and D. Smith, Maine: A History Through Selected Readings (1985); D. Delorme, ed., The Maine Atlas and Gazeteer (1988)
State in the northeastern United States; northernmost of the New England states. Bordered by Quebec, Canada, to the northwest; New Brunswick, Canada, to the northeast; the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast; and New Hampshire to the west. Its capital is Augusta, and Portland is its largest city.
Local Time: May 16, 3:12 PM
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| State of Maine | |||||||||||
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| Official language(s) | None (English and French de facto) |
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| Capital | Augusta | ||||||||||
| Largest city | Portland | ||||||||||
| Area | Ranked 39th | ||||||||||
| - Total | 33,414 sq mi (86,542 km²) |
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| - Width | 210 miles (338 km) | ||||||||||
| - Length | 320 miles (515 km) | ||||||||||
| - % water | 13.5 | ||||||||||
| - Latitude | 42° 58′ N to 47° 28′ N | ||||||||||
| - Longitude | 66° 57′ W to 71° 5′ W | ||||||||||
| Population | Ranked 40th | ||||||||||
| - Total (2000) | 1,274,923 | ||||||||||
| - Density | 41.3/sq mi 15.95/km² (38th) |
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| Elevation | |||||||||||
| - Highest point | Mount Katahdin[1] 5,268 ft (1,606 m) |
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| - Mean | 591 ft (180 m) | ||||||||||
| - Lowest point | Atlantic Ocean[1] 0 ft (0 m) |
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| Admission to Union | March 15, 1820 (23rd) | ||||||||||
| Governor | John Baldacci (D) | ||||||||||
| U.S. Senators | Olympia Snowe (R) Susan Collins (R) |
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| Congressional Delegation | List | ||||||||||
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | ||||||||||
| Abbreviations | ME US-ME | ||||||||||
| Web site | www.maine.gov | ||||||||||
The State of Maine (IPA: /meɪn/) is a state in the New England region of the
northeastern
The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking peoples. The first European settlement in Maine was in 1604 by a French party. The first English settlement in Maine was established by the Plymouth Company at Popham in 1607, the same year as the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. Both colonies were predated by the Roanoke Colony by 22 years. Because the Popham Colony did not survive the harsh Maine winters and the Roanoke Colony was lost, Jamestown enjoys the distinction of being regarded as America’s first permanent settlement. A number of English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate, deprivations and Indian attacks wiped out many of them over the years. As Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen settlements still survived. American and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Because it was physically separated from the rest of Massachusetts (properly speaking, the Department of Maine was an exclave of Massachusetts) and because it was growing in population at a rapid rate, Maine became the 23rd state on March 15, 1820 as a component of the Missouri Compromise.
There continues to be much interest in the origin of the name of Maine, as there is not a definitive answer. The Maine legislature in 2002 adopted a resolution establishing Franco-American Day which stated that the state was named after the ancient French province of Maine.[2] Other theories mention earlier places with similar names, or claim it's a nautical reference to the mainland.[3] Whatever the origin, the name was fixed in 1665 when the King's Commissioners ordered that the "Province of Maine" be entered from then on in official records.[4]
To the south and east is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the north and northeast is New Brunswick, a province of Canada. The Canadian province of Quebec is to the northwest. Maine is both the northernmost state in New England and the largest, accounting for nearly half the region's entire land area. Maine also has the distinction of being the only state to border just one other state (New Hampshire to the west). The municipalities of Eastport and Lubec are, respectively, the easternmost city and town in the 48 contiguous states. Maine's Moosehead Lake is the largest lake in New England (Lake Champlain being partially in New York). Mount Katahdin is both the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, which extends to Springer Mountain, Georgia, and the southern terminus of the new International Appalachian Trail, which, when complete, will run to Belle Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Maine also has several unique geographical features. Machias Seal Island and North Rock, off its easternmost point, are claimed by both the U.S. and Canada and are within one of four areas between the two countries whose sovereignty is still in dispute, but is the only one of the disputed areas containing land. Also in this easternmost area is the Old Sow, the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere.
Maine is the most sparsely populated state east of the Mississippi River. It is called the Pine Tree State; ninety percent of its land is forested. In the forested areas of the interior there is much uninhabited land, some of which does not have formal political organization into local units. For example, the Northwest Aroostook, Maine unorganized territory in the northern part of the state has an area of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km²) and a population of 27, or one person for every 100 square miles (255 km²).
Maine is equally well known for its dramatic ocean scenery, with almost miles ( km) of shoreline[2]. West Quoddy Head is the easternmost piece of land in the contiguous 48 United States. Along the famous rock-bound coast of Maine are lighthouses, sandy beaches, quiet fishing villages and thousands of offshore islands, including the Isles of Shoals, which straddle the New Hampshire border. Jagged rocks and cliffs and thousands of bays and inlets add to the rugged beauty of Maine's coast. Just inland, by contrast, are sparkling lakes, rushing rivers, green forests and towering mountains. This visual contrast, forested slopes sweeping down to the sea, has been aptly summed up by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay of Rockland and Camden, Maine in "Renascence":
More prosaic geologists describe this type of landscape as a drowned coast, where a rising sea level has invaded former land features, creating bays out of valleys and islands out of mountain tops. A rise in the elevation of the land, due to the melting of heavy glacier ice, caused a slight rebounding effect of underlying rock; however, this land rise was not strong enough to eliminate all the effect of the rising sea level and its invasion of former land features.
Millions of people have enjoyed this coastal scenery at Maine's Acadia National Park, the only national park in New England.
Areas under the protection and management of the National Park Service include:
Maine experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb), with warm (although generally not hot), humid summers. Winters are cold and snowy throughout the state, and are especially severe in the northern parts of Maine. Coastal areas are moderated somewhat by the Atlantic Ocean. Daytime highs are generally in the 75-80 °F (24-27 °C) range throughout the state in July, with overnight lows in the high 50s°F (around 15 °C). January temperatures range from highs near 32 °F, (0 °C) on the southern coast to overnight lows below 0 °F (-18 °C) in the far north.
Maine, on occasion, is affected by hurricanes and tropical storms although by the time they reach the state, many have become extratropical and few hurricanes have made landfall in Maine. Maine has fewer days of thunderstorms than any other state east of the Rockies, with most of the state averaging less than 20 days of thunderstorms a year. Tornadoes are rare in Maine with the state averaging less than 2 a year, mostly occurring in the southern part of the state.[5]
| Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures
( |
||||||||||||
| City | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caribou | 19/0 | 23/3 | 34/15 | 47/29 | 63/41 | 72/50 | 76/55 | 74/53 | 64/44 | 51/34 | 37/24 | 25/8 |
| Portland | 31/12 | 34/16 | 42/25 | 53/35 | 63/44 | 73/53 | 79/59 | 77/57 | 69/48 | 58/37 | 47/30 | 36/19 |
| [3] | ||||||||||||
The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki peoples including the Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscots. The first European settlement in Maine was in 1604 by a French party that included Samuel de Champlain, the noted explorer. The French named the entire area, including the portion that later became the State of Maine, Acadia. English colonists sponsored by the Plymouth Company settled in 1607. The coastal areas of western Maine first became the Province of Maine in a 1622 land patent. Eastern Maine north of the Kennebec River was more sparsely settled and was known in the 17th century as the Territory of Sagadahock.
The province within its current boundaries became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1652. Maine was much fought over by the French and English during the 17th and early 18th centuries. After the defeat of the French in the 1740s, the territory from the Penobscot River east fell under the nominal authority of the Province of Nova Scotia, and together with present day New Brunswick formed the Nova Scotia county of Sunbury, with its court of general sessions at Campobello. American and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. The treaty concluding revolution was ambiguous about Maine's boundary with British North America. The territory of Maine was confirmed as part of Massachusetts when the United States was formed, although the final border with British territory was not established until the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. (Indeed, in 1839 Governor Fairfield declared war on England over a boundary dispute between New Brunswick and northern Maine[citation needed]. Known as the Aroostook War, this is the only time a state has declared war on a foreign power[citation needed]. The dispute was settled, however, before any blood was shed.)
Because it was physically separated from the rest of Massachusetts and was growing in population at a rapid rate, Maine became the 23rd state on March 15, 1820 through the Missouri Compromise. This compromise allowed admitting both Maine and Missouri (in 1821) into the union while keeping a balance between slave and free states. Maine's original capital was Portland until 1832, when it was moved to Augusta.
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1790 |
—
|
||
| 1800 | 57.2% | ||
| 1810 | 50.7% | ||
| 1820 | 30.4% | ||
| 1830 | 33.9% | ||
| 1840 | 25.6% | ||
| 1850 | 16.2% | ||
| 1860 | 7.7% | ||
| 1870 | -0.2% | ||
| 1880 | 3.5% | ||
| 1890 | 1.9% | ||
| 1900 | 5.0% | ||
| 1910 | 6.9% | ||
| 1920 | 3.5% | ||
| 1930 | 3.8% | ||
| 1940 | 6.2% | ||
| 1950 | 7.9% | ||
| 1960 | 6.1% | ||
| 1970 | 2.4% | ||
| 1980 | 13.4% | ||
| 1990 | 9.2% | ||
| 2000 | 3.8% | ||
As of 2005, Maine has an estimated population of 1,321,505, which is an increase of 6,520, or 0.5%, from the prior year and an increase of 46,582, or 3.7%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 6,413 people (that is 71,276 births minus 64,863 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 41,808 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 5,004 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 36,804 people.
Maine is a popular tourist destination, but it also experiences harsh winters and, consequently, the great temporary influx of visitors occurs during the warmer months. Many of these visitors establish an alternate secondary residence in Maine during some or all warm months and then depart for their primary residence in the off-season. These are the summer people of Maine lore, often referred to, along with all other out-of-staters, as "flatlanders". Official census figures normally count a person as a resident only once, at the place of the primary home. Therefore, there are some situations in which official census figures could be misleading for Maine. For example, some communities may have a much larger seasonal retail sector than their official, small population figure would imply.
The mean population center of Maine is located in Kennebec County, in or near the town of Mount Vernon.[6] The Greater Portland metropolitan area is the most densely populated with nearly 20% of Maine's population.[7]. As explained in detail under "Geography", there are large tracts of uninhabited land in some remote parts of the interior.
| Demographics of Maine (csv) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By race | White | Black | AIAN | Asian | NHPI |
| AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native - NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | |||||
| 2000 (total population) | 98.08% | 0.77% | 1.03% | 0.93% | 0.06% |
| 2000 (Hispanic only) | 0.66% | 0.06% | 0.03% | 0.02% | 0.01% |
| 2005 (total population) | 97.81% | 1.02% | 1.00% | 1.06% | 0.06% |
| 2005 (Hispanic only) | 0.91% | 0.07% | 0.03% | 0.02% | 0.00% |
| Growth 2000-2005 (total population) | 3.37% | 37.45% | 0.77% | 17.68% | 2.76% |
| Growth 2000-2005 (non-Hispanic only) | 3.09% | 38.61% | 0.95% | 18.10% | 9.48% |
| Growth 2000-2005 (Hispanic only) | 44.03% | 22.69% | -5.57% | -3.52% | -43.56% |
The largest ancestries in the state are: English, Scottish, and other British (30.8%), French or French Canadian (22.8%), Irish (15.1%), American (9.4%), and German (6.7%).
Maine is second only to New Hampshire in the percentage of French Americans among U.S. states. It also has the largest percentage of non-Hispanic whites of any state and the highest percentage of current French-speakers. Franco-Mainers tended to settle in rural northern Maine (particularly Aroostook County) and the industrial cities of inland Maine (especially Lewiston) whereas much of the midcoast and downeast sections remain strongly Anglo. Smaller numbers of various other groups, including Italian and
