Results navigation
2. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Baldwin, Bridgeton and Harrison
3. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Bangor, Orono and Sunkhase Plantation
4. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Camden
5. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Cape Elizabeth
6. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Cushing, Friendship and Saint George
7. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Deer Isle
8. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Dennysville, Lubec, Plantations No. 9, 10, 11 and 12
9. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Dresden and Woolwich
10. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, East Andover, Rumford, Plantation No. 7 and Plantation No. 8
11. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Eastport
12. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Greenwood, Paris and Woodstock
13. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Industry, New Vineyard and Strong
14. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Lewiston and Wales
15. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Lewiston and Wales, Ballot 2
16. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Lovell, Sweden and Waterford
17. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Parsonsfield
18. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Parsonsfield, Ballot 2
19. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Portland
20. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Portland, Ballot 2
21. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Portland, Ballot 3
22. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Thomaston
23. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Turner
24. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Union and Washington
25. Maine 1820 House of Representatives, Waterville
26. Maine 1820 State Senate, Cumberland County
27. Maine 1820 State Senate, Hancock County
28. Maine 1820 State Senate, Kennebec County
29. Maine 1820 State Senate, Lincoln County
30. Maine 1820 State Senate, Oxford County
31. Maine 1820 State Senate, Penobscot County
32. Maine 1820 State Senate, Somerset County
33. Maine 1820 State Senate, Washington County
34. Maine 1820 State Senate, York County
35. Maine 1821 Governor
36. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Cumberland County, Portland
37. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Cushing and Saint George
38. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Deer Isle
39. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, District 6, Ballot 2
40. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, District 7, Ballot 2
41. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Dresden and Palermo
42. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Harrison and Otisfield
43. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Lewiston
44. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Lincoln County, Bath
45. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Paris
46. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Parsonsfield
47. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Turner
48. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Union and Putnam
49. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Union and Putnam, Ballot 2
50. Maine 1821 House of Representatives, Waterville
51. Maine 1821 State Senate, Cumberland County
52. Maine 1821 State Senate, Hancock County
53. Maine 1821 State Senate, Kennebec County
54. Maine 1821 State Senate, Lincoln County
55. Maine 1821 State Senate, Oxford County
56. Maine 1821 State Senate, Penobscot County
57. Maine 1821 State Senate, Somerset County
58. Maine 1821 State Senate, Washington County
59. Maine 1821 State Senate, York County
60. Maine 1822 Governor
61. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Bangor, Orono, Sunkhaze Plantation and Plantation No. 3
62. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Cumberland County, Portland
63. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Cumberland County, Portland, Ballot 2
64. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Cushing and Saint George
65. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Cushing and Saint George, Ballot 2
66. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Cushing and Saint George, Ballot 3
67. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Cushing and Saint George, Ballot 4
68. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Deer Isle
69. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Harrison and Otisfield
70. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Paris
71. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Parsonsfield
72. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Penobscot County, Bangor
73. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Putnam and Union
74. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Putnam and Union, Ballot 2
75. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Washington County
76. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Washington County, Ballot 2
77. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Washington County, Ballot 3
78. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Washington County, Eastport
79. Maine 1822 House of Representatives, Waterville
80. Maine 1822 State Senate, Cumberland County
81. Maine 1822 State Senate, Cumberland County, Special
82. Maine 1822 State Senate, Hancock County
83. Maine 1822 State Senate, Kennebec County
84. Maine 1822 State Senate, Lincoln County
85. Maine 1822 State Senate, Oxford County
86. Maine 1822 State Senate, Penobscot County
87. Maine 1822 State Senate, Penobscot County, Special
88. Maine 1822 State Senate, Somerset County
89. Maine 1822 State Senate, Somerset County, Special
90. Maine 1822 State Senate, Washington County
91. Maine 1822 State Senate, York County
92. Maine 1822 State Senate, York County, Special
93. Maine 1823 Governor
94. Maine 1823 House of Representatives, Bangor, Orono, Sunkhaze Plantation and Plantation No. 3
95. Maine 1823 House of Representatives, Bangor, Orono, Sunkhaze Plantation and Plantation No. 3, Ballot 2
96. Maine 1823 House of Representatives, Bath
97. Maine 1823 House of Representatives, Cumberland County, Portland
98. Maine 1823 House of Representatives, Cumberland County, Portland, Ballot 2
99. Maine 1823 House of Representatives, Cushing and Saint George
100. Maine 1823 House of Representatives, Deer Isle
Results navigation
The pursuit of statehood dominated Maine politics between 1787 and 1820, when it finally achieved statehood separate from Massachusetts. Until 1820, the District of Maine simply comprised the eastern counties of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and thus shared all its political characteristics (see Massachusetts entry). There were significant efforts at statehood in 1788–1789, 1792, 1803, 1816, but the district's populous coastal communities proved unwilling to sever their connections with the Commonwealth.
After 1803 the statehood issue increasingly became identified with Jeffersonianism. Backcountry residents became increasingly restive, in no small part because of antipathy to absentee proprietors who owned vast swathes of Maine's undeveloped hinterland. The situation remained volatile until the issue became politicized by Jeffersonian leaders who saw a chance to land a major blow against the Boston-based Federalist elite. The dominant figure in the struggle for statehood was William King, a wealthy merchant who based his political career on the grievances of squatters and religious dissenters such as himself. In a timely defection, in 1803 he became a Republican, portending the district's conversion; in 1805 the District of Maine voted for a Jeffersonian gubernatorial candidate, and a majority of its voters never supported Federalism thereafter.
The War of 1812 proved a catalyst for statehood. Militarily abandoned by Massachusetts, Mainers increasingly realized that only statehood would endow them with a political voice. Yet an 1816 statehood effort failed. Stung by the defeat, King realized that Maine's coastal communities would not break with old Massachusetts as a consequence of a peculiarity in federal navigation laws. Utilizing his political connections in Washington, King helped refashion national maritime policies in such a way that separation did not threaten the shipping trades so essential to Maine's coastal communities. With this obstacle removed, in July 1819 an election based on separation passed in all nine Maine counties; by October, representatives held a constitutional convention.
Maine's constitution departed significantly from that of Massachusetts and can be seen as a triumph of Jeffersonian principles. It guaranteed freedom of both speech and press; absolute freedom of religion; and universal male suffrage for those over twenty-one, with no property qualifications whatever and no racial restrictions. Maine's legislature was bicameral, featuring a House of Representatives and a Senate, with November elections every two years for both houses. Unlike Massachusetts, which, to ensure the dominance of Suffolk County, based the number of senators on each county’s wealth, Maine apportioned senators on the basis of population.
The new state's executive powers were somewhat altered from those of old Massachusetts, which arguably had the strongest governorship in the nation, but they nonetheless remained strong. Governors were not required to be Christians, and they served a four-year term. There was no lieutenant governor; the president of the Senate was designated the successor to any governor incapacitated. The combined Senate and House elected a seven-member council to assist the governor.
Congress approved Maine's statehood in 1820 as part of the "Missouri Compromise." Given his prominence in the statehood movement, it is appropriate that King became Maine's first governor.
Bibliography
- Banks, Ronald F.
Maine Becomes a State: The Movement to Separate Maine from Massachusetts, 1785–1820. Middletown, CT: Published for the Maine Historical Society by Wesleyan University Press, 1970. - Formisano, Ronald P.
The Transformation of Political Culture: Massachusetts Parties, 1790s–1840s. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. - Goodman, Paul.
The Democratic-Republicans of Massachusetts; Politics in a Young Republic. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1964. - Leamon, James S.
Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in Maine. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993. - Marini, Stephen A.
Radical Sects of Revolutionary New England. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982. - Taylor, Alan.
Liberty Men and Great Proprietors: The Revolutionary Settlement on the Maine Frontier, 1760–1820. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990. Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia. - Williamson, William D.
The History of the State of Maine: From Its First Discovery, A.D. 1602, to the Separation, A.D. 1820, Inclusive. Hallowell, ME: Glazier, Masters and Co., 1832.