A rare and fragile survivor: published at the height of the debate over Maine statehood, this broadside provides a close look at the arguments for separation from Massachusetts.
Drawn from a meeting held a Freeport (18 miles north of Portland), the text presents a concise summary of the “prominent objections” to the separation law that was to be voted upon by the people of Maine on July 26, 1819.
The text critiques Massachusetts’ administration over Maine, citing unequal burdens in taxation, military defense, and land policy, while also asserting the advantages of local control, fairer representation, and political autonomy. It also discusses the Penobscot Nation and “fulfilling the stipulations of Massachusetts with the Indians, for the nominal compensation of $30,000, in wild land.” It asks specifically why “did not Massachusetts release to Maine the lands ceded to her last year by the Penobscot Indians, as an indemnity to Maine for paying Massachusetts our proportion of the Indian obligations, and then wholly freeing her from the claims of those Indians, and fulfilling them in her stead?”
By way of conclusion, it asks three questions:
“Can the lands be divided as proposed, and all the valuable real estate in Massachusetts be given up, without great sacrifices of the best interests of Maine?
“Can all the other property be pledged and controled as proposed, and Maine not be a sufferer by it?
“Can Maine incorporate the land laws of Massachusetts in regard to her interests, into the constitution of Maine, and not drink of the cup of degradation at her first breath as a state?”
Though the broadside’s immediate focus is regional and administrative, its historical significance reaches further. Maine’s successful vote for separation in 1819, and subsequent admission as a free state in 1820, was part of the Missouri Compromise, the pivotal national agreement that sought to balance power between free and slaveholding states in the U.S. Senate by simultaneously admitting Missouri as a slave state. This document stands not only as a cornerstone of Maine’s statehood, but also as an artifact deeply tied to the national struggle over slavery and federal balance of power.
Chaired by Jacob Abbott with William C. Wilde as secretary, the meeting resolved to form a committee to frame and publish this document in order to bring the issue of separation clearly before the public. The committee, headed by Robert Hallowell Gardiner, and including fifteen other signatories, addresses the voters directly, urging support for statehood.
OCLC locates copies at AAS, Bowdoin, and the Clements only.
