History of Maine

Maine became the twenty-third state of the United States on March 15, 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise. It was long ruled by Massachusetts.

The present state of Maine was originally inhabited by the Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki peoples including the Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscots.

The first European settlement in Maine was made in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by the French explorer, Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, including Samuel de Champlain. Britain made its settlement in the state in 1607 at Popham. The Plymouth Company was instrumental in the establishment of the British settlement. Their settlement, Fort St. George, however, did not prosper and the colonists returned to England in 1608.

The region again came under the French rule in 1613 and a colony was established at Mt. Desert Island but the English under Sir Samuel Argall expelled them.

In 1620, the first grant of Maine lands (the territory between the Kennebec and Merrimack rivers) was granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason by the Council for New England, a joint-stock company that was dominated by Gorges. The land was divided seven years later and Gorges became the sole proprietor of the "Province of Maine."

Years later after the death of Gorges in 1647, the province of Maine came under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1652. Many battles were fought between the British and the French/Native Americans to conquer the state. King Philip's War (1675-76) was one of the many struggles; all these battles slowed any kind of settlement of Maine.

The French influence in the state saw a permanent decline after 1688, when Sir Edmund Andros, royal governor of New England, seized French fortifications. In 1691, Andros was overthrown and a new charter was created that gave Massachusetts a confirmed hold on Maine. Sir William Phips was made the governor and the state developed prosperous fishing, lumbering, and shipbuilding industries.

The British rule in the Maine left the people disappointed and the passing of the Stamp Act in 1765 expressed the dissatisfaction clearly. Following this, there were many conflicts between the colonies and England. Tensions increased when the people decided to boycott English goods. However, the first encounter of the Revolutionary War occurred in Machias Bay on June 12, 1775, when the natives captured the British armed schooner Margaretta. The British reacted by setting fire to Falmouth on October 8, 1775.

During the war, Maine saw many conflicts with the native Americans. But when America won its independence, the region saw a rapid advancement in the economy. Maine was then called the District of Maine.

The demand for statehood had been growing since the Revolution and with the War of 1812, it became even more intense. There were a lot of political differences between the conservative Massachusetts and liberal Maine, which called for the separation of the state. The separation of Maine from Massachusetts hastened with the admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave state. Thereafter, Maine was admitted to the Union as a free state on March 15, 1820, according to the Missouri Compromise. Portland was made the capital. The capital was shifted to Augusta in 1832.

The first half of the nineteenth century in Maine saw a rapid increase in the population. The state carried highly profitable timber trade with the West Indies, Europe, and Asia. But there was a long-standing debate regarding the border with the British territory; the dispute came to be known as the Northeast Boundary dispute. It was settled by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Great Britain in 1842.

Maine became one of the leading papermaking states in the United States in the early twentieth century. Ship-building, and textile industry added to the revenues of the state. Tourism industry developed with visitors flocking the many attractions in the state such as the Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island.

The retraction of job opportunities in the northern and eastern Maine in the 1990s led to a discussion of "two Maines." The two divisions had different interests. Leaving aside the coastal areas of the state, Maine remains the poorest state in the northeast.