Exhibits
Meet Maine Here.
Statehood Achieved
On March 15, 1820, Maine entered the Union as the 23rd state. Delegates to the Maine state constitutional convention had met in October 1819 and used the Massachusetts constitution of 1780 as their model, yet they modified it on several important matters. Maine’s constitution prohibited state support for any religious group, which stood in contrast to the tax-supported Congregational Church in Massachusetts. It allowed men of European and African descent the right to vote regardless of their ability to own property. Yet, it denied voting rights to “untaxed Indians” living on reservation lands.
The State of Maine took over land distribution, which included negotiating with Wabanaki peoples. In the transfer of governmental authority from Massachusetts, Maine assumed all treaty obligations that Massachusetts had made with the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot peoples. Some public lands were also transferred to Maine, though Massachusetts retained thousands of acres in Maine. Maine placed its public lands and Wabanaki people under legal guardianship with government officials designated to manage tribal affairs.
Congress Street, Portland, Maine, 1822-1825, Maine State Museum and the Maine Historical Society, 98.30.1
The white building on the right was Maine’s first state house, located at the intersection of Congress and Myrtle Streets in Portland. This is one of only two existing images showing that structure.
In 1827, Maine’s Legislature voted to make Augusta the new state capital. Portland continued to host state government in this building until the new state capitol was completed in 1832. The first state house burned in the Great Fire of 1866.
Maine’s Militia
The United States did not establish a standing army after the Revolution, preferring a well-regulated and disciplined militia of citizens that trained and could be called to serve as needed. To secure the nation’s defense, in 1791 Congress enacted a law requiring every state to form a militia by enlisting all male residents between the ages of eighteen and forty-five.
Forming a new state militia was especially important to the people of Maine. English aggression during the War of 1812 was a recent memory, and over 600 miles of Maine bordered English-controlled colonies. The United States and Great Britain had not agreed about the location of Maine’s northeastern border at the time Maine became an independent state. This made it especially important for Maine to organize a militia that could be called at a moment’s notice.
First Maine Militia Uniform, probably worn by James C. Spaulding (1802-1886), 1820-1840, Maine State Museum, Gift of Barrett Spaulding, 69.51.1
James C. Spaulding of Buckfield turned nineteen when Maine’s first militia was organized in March 1821. The Spaulding family preserved and passed down this uniform through several generations.
Maine’s militiamen were to muster up to four days a year to train and parade. The 1821 Act to Organize … the Militia of the State of Maine prescribes that each soldier “shall be uniformly clothed in regimentals, to be furnished at their own expense; the color and fashion to be determined by the Brigadier commanding” the unit.
This militia hat or “shako” features one of the earliest representations of the Maine state seal. Bertha Smouse of Thomaston is credited with drawing the first seal, based on Hallowell’s Benjamin Vaughan’s design. The Legislature formally accepted the seal design on June 9, 1820, less than three months after Maine became the 23rd state.
Maine Militia Cap, ca. 1825, Maine State Museum, 79.73.1
This militia hat or “shako” features one of the earliest representations of the Maine state seal. Bertha Smouse of Thomaston is credited with drawing the first seal, based on Hallowell’s Benjamin Vaughan’s design. The Legislature formally accepted the seal design on June 9, 1820, less than three months after Maine became the 23rd state.
The Wabanaki and the New State
Once Maine became a state, its new government assumed responsibility for treaty agreements that Massachusetts had made with the Wabanaki.
Maine took over Massachusetts’s treaty obligations. The Massachusetts government entered into treaty relationships in 1794 with the Passamaquoddy and in 1796 and 1818 with the Penobscot. These treaties restricted the tribes to ever smaller reservations but also protected Wabanaki hunting and fishing rights. Through a series of laws after 1820, Maine tried to force the Wabanaki to live and remain within a very limited area as new settlers from southern New England moved into Maine.
Massachusetts had made illegal treaties, which were in violation of the Federal Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790. This law made it illegal for individuals or states to make independent land sales or treaties with Native American Indians without the approval of Congress. Through state-appointed Indian agents, Maine then sold Wabanaki lands to settlers on the Native people’s behalf and controlled the proceeds. The new state of Maine took on the responsibility of fielding protests about the legality of land sales and the treaties that Massachusetts had failed to submit to Congress.
Upon achieving statehood, the new Maine government began dealing directly with the Wabanaki. Penobscot and Passamaquoddy leaders submitted petitions to protest violations of their treaty rights. Conflicts surfaced early over fishing rights, for example, and vague reservation boundaries.
Silver Cuff, made by Zebulon Smith, Bangor, Maine, ca. 1820, Maine State Museum,80.88.1
Officials for the State of Maine may have given this cuff to a Penobscot dignitary in one of the ceremonies that marked the beginning of the State’s responsibilities toward the tribe.
Officials were eager to have the Wabanaki tribes recognize the new state. Maine officials wanted the Wabanaki to end formal relationships with Massachusetts. Penobscot and Passamaquoddy leaders insisted this new relationship would include previously agreed-upon treaty rights.
