USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 3 > Part 50
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According to a letter from H. A. Dearborn, the collector of the port of Boston, printed in Niles Register, an enterprising merchant sent $30,000 worth of materials from Boston to Mexico over a route which led overland from Boston to Prov- idence, thence by water and wagons to Philadelphia, then over- land to the Ohio River and down that stream and the Missis- sippi to New Orleans, thence by land and boats to Mexico.
The British Navy during the war held almost undisturbed sway along the coast of Massachusetts. It established a land base at Provincetown, and another at Penobscot. Frequent forays were made on shore for provisions and there was some destruction of property. Morison states that, in general, raid- ers were not molested in the Federalist towns, but were driven off by Democratic towns. Provincetown, Duxbury, Plymouth, and Nantucket hastened to declare themselves neutral; and in return received trading permits from the British. Some towns paid ransoms for immunity from attack.
REVIVAL OF COMMERCE (1814 - 1820)
After the war with England, Massachusetts faced maritime depression. Europe revived her own carrying trade, and Eng- land was not quick to open her ports to American shipping. To be sure there was a period of intense activity when every ship was needed to place the accumulated produce of the country on the market. At best, this period was short. More- over many wealthy and influential men were placing their capital in the newly created manufactories. Protective tar- iffs, not marine drawbacks, were the demand of the hour in Massachusetts.
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RECOVERY OF THE FISHERIES
It was not possible to shift the economic interests of a great State in a moment; and to a certain extent shipping was revived. Boston remained the center of the American trade to India until 1843. Ships were also busied in the im- portation of raw materials, and the coastwise traffic was soon restored. An important consequence of the changed condi- tions was the decline of Gloucester, Newburyport, Marblehead, and Salem as centers of foreign commerce. Such of their merchants as retained their former maritime interests rapidly shifted to Boston, which became the one great center of foreign trade in Massachusetts. Salem for a time attempted to revive her East India trade, but never recovered the ton- nage possessed in the days before the Embargo.
RECOVERY OF THE FISHERIES (1814 - 1820)
Though the revival of the fisheries after the Revolution was slow, after the War of 1812 it was rapid. The example of Newburyport is pertinent. In 1809 that port sent forty- five ships to the Labrador fishery; in 1817, sixty-five. Essex had forty vessels engaged in the shore and bank fisheries in 1815. At the same time Salem sent fifty schooners to the Banks, and added sixteen more ships within two years. Mar- blehead, however, continued to hold the lead as the most im- portant cod-fishing emporium until after 1820. The rapid recovery of this industry is best noted in the tonnage of the Labrador fisheries, which rose from 17,855 tons in 1814 to 64,807 tons in 1817. Congress in 1819 aided the cod fishing industry by placing a bounty on vessels engaged in that indus- try. The amount varied with the' size of the ship, but the maximum was $360 per vessel annually. The tariff of 1816 levied a duty of one dollar per quintal on foreign-caught mackerel, and similar duties on other fish.
The close of the war brought immediate activity to the whale fishery. The first port to resume on an extensive scale was Nantucket. By the close of 1815, six other ports had sent out eighteen ships, and the following year seven more towns resumed the industry. By 1818 vessels were returning from the Pacific with cargoes of oil and a ready market was found for their wares. From 1815 to 1819 the fleet of Nan- tucket increased from 23 to 61 ships, and in 1821 it numbered 84. The "golden era" of whaling had begun.
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COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
BARRY, JOHN STETSON .- The History of Massachusetts (3 vols., Boston, Phillips, Sampson, 1855-1857)-Contains a general survey, with good bibliographical references.
BATCHELDER, SAMUEL .- Introduction and Progress of Cotton Manufactur- ing in the United States (Boston, Little, Brown, 1863)-A very short survey, but containing material on Massachusetts.
BATES, WILLIAM WALLACE .- American Navigation; the Political History of its Rise and Ruin and the Proper Means for its Encouragement (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, 1902)-The first chapter describes the con- dition of American shipping in 1789.
BISHOP, JAMES LEANDER .- A History of American Manufactures from 1608 to 1860 (3 vols., Phila., Young, 1866)-A pioncer work, contain- ing much unorganized material.
CLARK, VICTOR SELDEN .- History of Manufactures in the United States, 1607-1860 (Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1916)-A good summary, based on original materials and containing an exceptionally complete bibliography.
COPELAND, MELVIN THOMAS .- The Cotton Manufacturing Industry of the United States (Harvard Economic Studies, Vol. VIII, Harvard Univ., 1912).
DOUGLAS, CHARLES HENRY JAMES .- The Financial History of Massachu- setts, from the Organization of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the American Revolution (Columbia Univ. Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law, Vol. I, N. Y., 1892)-Contains useful data.
DOUGLAS-LITHGOW, ROBERT ALEXANDER .- Nantucket; a History (N. Y., Putnam's, 1914)-A fairly complete and accurate survey of the com- merce of that port.
DWIGHT, TIMOTHY .- Travels; in New England and New York (4 vols .. New Haven, T. Dwight, 1821-1822)-Contains a great amount of in- formation on manufacturing and internal improvements.
HAZARD, BLANCHE EVANS .- The Organization of the Boot and Shoe In- dustry in Massachusetts before 1875 (Harvard Economic Studies, Vol. XXIII, Harvard Univ. Press, 1921).
HILL, HAMILTON ANDREWS .- The Trade and Commerce in Boston, 1630 to 1890 (Boston, Damrell & Upham, 1895)-Valuable for its numer- ous quotations.
JOHNSON, EMERY RICHARD .- "American Commerce to 1789" (E. R. JOHN- SON and others .- History of Domestic and Foreign Commerce of the United States, 2 vols., Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1922)-See Vol. I, part I.
KNOX, JOHN JAY .- A History of Banking in the United States (N. Y., Rhodes, 1900)-A standard treatise.
LINDSAY, WILLIAM SCHAW .- History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce (4 vols., London, Low, Marston, Low. and Searle, 1882)- This work includes American shipping and is valuable for the British point of view.
MARVIN, WINTHROP LIPPITT .- The American Merchant Marine; its His- tory and Romance from 1620 to 1902 (N. Y., Scribner's, 1910)-A general work, supporting national aid for shipping.
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
McMASTER, JOHN BACH .- A History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War (8 vols., N. Y., Appleton, 1884- 1913)-Very serviceable on account of its extensive quotation of sources.
MCFARLAND, RAYMOND .- A History of the New England Fisheries (Univ. of Pa. Publications, Series in Political Economy and Public Law, Phila., Univ. of Pa., 1911)-The best general survey of the subject.
MEYER, BALTHASAR HENRY, editor .- History of Transportation in the United States before 1860 (Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1917)- A compilation by several authors.
MORISON, SAMUEL ELIOT .- The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783- 1860 (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, 1921)-The best general survey.
Niles Weekly Register (75 vols., Balto., Washington, Phila., 1811-1849)- Contains data on trade, commerce, manufacturing, transportation, not easily found elsewhere. Each volume is well indexed.
PITKIN, TIMOTHY .- A Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States of America; Including also an Account of Banks, Manufactures and Internal Trade and Improvements (New Haven, Durrie & Peck, 1835)-An indispensable collection of documents.
SEARS, LOUIS MARTIN .- Jefferson and the Embargo (Duke University Publications, Durham, N. C., Duke Univ. Press, 1927)-The chapter dealing with New England and the embargo contains valuable data. SUMNER, WILLIAM GRAHAM .- "History of Banking in the United States" (A History of Banking in all the Leading Nations, 4 vols., N. Y., Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin, 1896)-See Vol. I.
TOWER, WALTER SHELDON .- A History of the American Whale Fishery (Univ. of Pa. Publications, Series in Political Economy and Public Law, No. 20, Phila., Univ. of Pa., 1907)-Gives a brief summary of the industry, with an appendix containing statistics and a bibliography. TOWNSEND, JOHN P .- "Savings Banks in the United States" (A History of Banking in all the Leading Nations, 4 vols., N. Y., Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin, 1896)-See Vol. II, part III.
WEEDEN, WILLIAM BABCOCK .- Economic and Social History of New Eng- land, 1620-1789 (2 vols., Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, 1891)-The final chapter contains a summary of conditions in Massachusetts in 1789.
UNITED STATES : CENSUS OFFICE .- Census Returns (Wash., 1791-1821) -- The first four decennial censuses were taken in 1790, 1800, 1810, 1820. UNITED STATES : CONGRESS .- American State Papers. Documents, Legis- lative and Executive (38 vols., Wash., Giles and Seaton, 1832-1861)- These papers begin with the First Congress, 1789. See Class IV, Commerce and Navigation, 2 vols., April, 1789-Feb., 1823.
UNITED STATES : TREASURY DEPARTMENT .- A Statement of the Arts and Manufactures of the United States of America for the Year 1810 (Phila., Cornman, 1814).
UNITED STATES : TREASURY DEPARTMENT .- Tabular Statement of the Ser- eral Branches of American Manufactures (Phila., Cornman, 1813).
WELLS, DAVID AMES .- Our Merchant Marine (N. Y., Putnam's, 1890) -- A general survey of the subject, with incidental references to Massa- chusetts.
WHITE, GEORGE SAVAGE .- Memoir of Samuel Slater, the Father of Ameri- can Manufactures; Connected with a History of Cotton Manufacture in England and America (Phila., 1836).
CHAPTER XIX
SEPARATION OF MAINE (1784- 1820)
BY DR. LOUIS C. HATCH Formerly State Historian of Maine
OLD MASSACHUSETTS AND MAINE
The union of Maine and Massachusetts was imperfect because New Hampshire was thrust between them like a wedge, extending to the sea. The fellow citizens of the two sections of the State could not visit each other without crossing another jurisdiction, or traversing a part of the ocean. The former frontier counties of Worcester and York gradually took on the characteristics of long settled communities, but while Worcester was less frequently thought of as a part of that rather indefinite district, western Massachusetts, York was still considered, perhaps looked down on, as belonging to that entity fixed by national and natural law, the "District of Maine." In 1778 the Continental Congress had made Maine an admiralty district and it was usually called the "District of Maine",-or, more briefly, the "District." Yet with this arrogance came to be mixed a certain fear. Old Massachusetts contained about 7000 square miles of territory ; Maine could boast of 35,000. True, Massachusetts had much the larger population, but that of Maine was rapidly increas- ing, and it was not foreseen that the rich prairies of the West would prove far more attractive to settlers than the unhewn forests of the East.
If geography and the statutes had joined in separating Maine from Massachusetts, physiography had rendered Maine a group of neighboring territories rather than a unity. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the rivers and the ocean were the great highways of America. All the important rivers of Maine ran in an, approximately north and south direction from the unsettled interior to the
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OLD MASSACHUSETTS AND MAINE
sea, and the inhabitants of the villages of Augusta and Machias found it far easier to obtain transportation for themselves and their goods to Boston than to Bangor.
Maine and Massachusetts were also bound together by busi- ness ties. Boston was the importing center for the whole State. Maine merchants obtained an election to the legislature, did some lawmaking and more buying of goods, and then came home without waiting for adjournment. The value of Maine's water powers for manufacturing cotton and woolen goods, to say nothing of electricity, was still unreal- ized ; but the hardy lumbermen of Maine felled the great trees, little sawmills all along the rivers cut them into lumber, and the rich merchants and shipowners of Massachusetts bought them and took or sent them to England, where they com- manded good prices.
The forests, however, were a source of division as well as of friendship. About the middle of the eighteenth century old titles and claims, which had lain dormant for decades, were bought up by new partnerships and companies, with a view of selling land to settlers. After the Revolution there developed a serious squatter problem. Pioneers, some rather disreputable persons, others of better character, went on the land, either to cut timber or to make permanent homes for themselves, and refused to leave or to buy at the prices demanded by the owners. As most of the proprietors were wealthy residents of Boston and vicinity, the question was complicated by the usual difficulties of absentee landlordism. In justice to the squatters it should be said that frequently the titles of the "owners" were doubtful, or that they had failed, perhaps through no fault of their own, to place settlers on the lands as required by the grants under which they held. Sometimes a man's farm would be claimed by two or three companies; and even if he were willing to pay a moderate price for quiet possession he could not obtain a warranty deed.
Moreover, long occupancy and the turning of forest land into farm land would not save the holder from eviction. It was said that the land companies allowed improvement to go on until the date had nearly come when quiet possession would bar a suit; and then laid claim. The pioneers formed
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SEPARATION OF MAINE
associations and resorted to violence to prevent eviction. Agents and surveyors had their horses killed and some of them were shot at and wounded. A surveyor of the Kennebec Company, as it was usually called, successor of the Plymouth Colony, was fatally wounded by a band of masked men dis- guised as Indians. It was impossible adequately to enforce the law. Men imprisoned for nonpayment of fines had their fines paid by their friends; others who had wounded one of General Knox's surveyors were released to await trial, for fear of a rescue. The men who killed the Kennebec surveyor were put in jail. An attempt at rescue failed, thanks to the resolution of Sheriff Chandler, later a United States brigadier general in the War of 1812, one of Maine's first Senators, and a member of a small junto which dominated Maine politics for about fifteen years; but all the prisoners were acquitted on their trial. There is little doubt of their guilt, but two very able lawyers were assigned as their counsel by the court; and it is said that men of the "better class" were carefully kept off the jury by peremptory challenges. Compassion and fear and the exclusion of important testimony by the strict legal rules of evidence won a verdict of not guilty.
Many voters in Maine who disapproved of murder yet believed that a settler's right was morally better than that of an absentee. They regarded the legislature at Boston as grossly partial to the proprietors. The land question made the District of Maine Democratic, while old Massachusetts continued Federalist.
ROADS AND TAXES
Other causes of discontent in Maine were the usual com- plaints of inhabitants of outlying districts, such as lack of roads, and the necessity of making long, hard journeys for the transaction of legal business. Taxation also was considered unfair. Particular objection was made to the taxes on rum because "our orchards are very poor [and therefore unfit for supplying cider], that some spiritous liquor is absolutely nec- essary, therefore the people in these eastern counties, especially Cumberland and Lincoln, are under a necessity of using more rum than their brethren to the westward, consequently that
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POLITICAL GRIEVANCES
the excise operates more heavily on the people here than in any other part of the Commonwealth."
The criticism on the school tax, though perhaps unjustifi- able, was not wholly without reason. The impost bore hard on the little towns, and it was alleged that were Maine a sepa- rate State the education law would be more suited to her circumstances. Yet if in some respects there was too much education, in others there was not enough, for the youth of Maine were obliged to travel to Cambridge if they wished a college training. The farmers said that their fields were flooded by the millowners' dams. Coast towns were angry because nonresidents appropriated the oysters on their beaches.
ATTENTION TO THE GRIEVANCES
The Commonwealth made various attempts to remove the grievances of Maine. Lots, were granted on easy terms to settlers on State lands. General laws were passed for the benefit of debtors and squatters; new counties were erected; and more court sessions were held in Maine. The records of sessions of the supreme court which were held in Maine were no longer sent to Boston, but were deposited in Maine coun- ties. Still, for the sake of uniformity, despatch and correct- ness, a travelling clerk attended the court through circuit for about twenty years, always officiating as clerk in the court during the terms.
"In 1796 there were some legislative regulations which were of essential benefit to the eastern people. One declared oysters and other shell-fish to be the property of a town, if bedded within its limits, and made it penal to take them," in various Maine towns, "without the Selectmen's permit." Another law "regulated mills, and prescribed a cheap and expeditious mode of assessing and recovering damages, for the flowage occa- sioned by dams."
POLITICAL GRIEVANCES
Country districts anywhere usually feel that they pay more than their proportion of the taxes yet get less than their share of the offices. However Maine appears to have made no great complaint about deprivation of political plums, although it was charged that the "Essex Junto" (which the
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SEPARATION OF MAINE
Eastern Argus of Portland said should be called the "Boston Junto,") believed that the Boston district had a right to a monopoly of the best State offices. No man who was a resident of Maine at the time of his election was ever chosen governor, and but one lieutenant governor was a Maine man. This gentleman was David Cobb, formerly and subsequently of Taunton, but for twenty-five years agent in Maine for the Binghams, great absentee landowners.
The minority Massachusetts party, the Democratic, never paid the District the compliment of selecting a standard bearer from that quarter; and only once did they give it even a candidate for lieutenant governor. In 1812, the Democrats nominated William King, of Bath; but their Central Com- mittee thought it advisable to explain in the annual campaign letter that, although King came from a remote part of the State, the district in which he lived was much interested in navigation, and that he, himself, was a large landowner. Boston may have been unduly prejudiced against backwoods statesmen, but in justice to her it should be remembered that in those days of slow communication it was a public disadvan- tage to have the chief magistrate of the State live at a great distance from the metropolis and capital.
The only Maine man who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate was Prentiss Mellen, chosen in 1817 just before the separation. In the Council, Maine by special provision of the charter of 1691 and by custom after the adoption of the State constitution, received due representation. To Maine were given several appointments to the bench of the highest court. William Cushing in 1772 succeeded his father in the superior court, in 1777 he was made chief justice, and in 1789 became a judge of the United States Supreme Court. By the State constitution of 1780 the name of the highest court was changed from superior to supreme. To it were appointed from Maine, George Thacher in 1801, Isaac Parker in 1806, and Samuel Sumner Wilde in 1815. Judge Parker became Chief Justice of Massachusetts in 1814.
SEPARATION FIRST PROPOSED (1784)
Immediately after the close of the Revolution, the question of the separation of Maine from Massachusetts and the erec- tion of the District into an independent State was freely
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MOVEMENT FOR A CONVENTION
discussed among all classes of society. In 1784 the Falmouth Gazette, the first newspaper in Maine, was established for the purpose of advocating separation. For about a year, from late in 1784 to the fall of 1785, the paper was filled with articles on the question. Mr. Daniel Davis, who took part in the movement but who appears to have been glad later that it did not succeed, said in an article on the subject written for the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1795: "Clergymen, physicians, lawyers, and farmers seemed engaged in accelerat- ing the event. They all employed both their pens and their private influence in convincing their fellow citizens of the propriety and advantages of becoming a distinct member of the Union. At the time I now speak of there were also a number of respectable opposers of this measure. These, gen- erally speaking, were either those gentlemen who were concerned in trade, and feared an interruption in their com- mercial connections, or such as held office under the govern- ment, and feared the consequences of a new appointment. In this, as in most other cases of political experiment, the opinion of each party was decided by a prospect of their own, rather than the public interest. To this, however, there were doubt- less some exceptions."
The discussion was quiet and gentlemanly. Some of the leaders in the separation movement were also leaders in Federalism and "good society," they were in general sympathy with the views, political and other, of the influential men in Massachusetts proper, and they had no wish to quarrel with them or to abuse the government of what was, after all, their own State. The mass of the people were at first indifferent ; and when their interest was aroused they did not, at least for a time, display more than what Davis calls "moderate zeal." The union with Massachusetts might cause them inconvenience, but they were not oppressed.
MOVEMENT FOR A CONVENTION (1785)
After the discussion had continued for months, it was felt that some action ought to be taken to secure a decision of the question; but how was this to be done? The District had neither a legislature nor executive of its own, and in that modest age "individuals were averse to any active step lest
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they should be considered officious." At last some gentlemen summoned courage to procure the insertion of the following notice in the Falmouth Gazette of September 17 and October 1, 1785 :
"Agreeably to a request made and signed by a large and respectable number of persons to the printer of this Gazette, the inhabitants of the three counties of York, Cumberland and Lincoln are hereby notified that so many of them as are inclined or can conveniently attend, are requested to meet at the Meeting House of the Revd. Messrs. Smith and Deane in Falmouth, on Wednesday, the fifth day of October next, to join in a conference then and there to be held on the proposal of having the said counties erected into a separate govern- ment; and, if it should be thought best, to form some plan for collecting the sentiments of the people on the subject and pursue some orderly and regular method of carrying the same into effect."
Thirty-three gentlemen, residents in about equal proportion of the three Maine counties of York, Cumberland and Lincoln, answered the call. On the day set, October 5, they organized by choosing William Gorham of Gorham as president and Stephen Longfellow, Jr., of the same town, as secretary. A committee of seven, of which General Wadsworth was chair- man, was appointed to draw up and dispatch a circular to all the Maine towns and plantations, requesting them to choose delegates to a convention to be held at Falmouth on the first Wednesday of January, 1786, to deliberate on the subject of a separation, "and if, after mature consideration, it should appear to them expedient, to pursue some orderly and regular method of carrying the same into effect."
Whether a separation was wise or not, the measures taken to obtain it were certainly moderate, peaceable and lawful; but the authorities in Massachusetts seem to have regarded them as almost treasonable. Governor Bowdoin, by the unanimous advice of his Council, brought the movement to the attention of the Legislature. He described it as "a design against the Commonwealth of very evil tendency, being calculated for the purpose of effecting the dismemberment of it." The Gen- eral Court replied that "attempts by individuals or bodies of men to dismember the State are fraught with improprieties and danger." The Legislature even appointed a joint commit-
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