Maine
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Maine is a state in the New England region of the United States. Maine is represented in the U.S. Senate by Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Tom Allen and Michael Michaud.
Geography
To the south and east is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the northeast is New Brunswick, a province of Canada. The Canadian province of Quebec is to the northwest. Maine is both the largest and the northernmost state in the New England region, bordered on the west by New Hampshire. Maine is the only state that borders just one other state. Maine is the easternmost state in the contiguous 48 states (see Extreme points of the United States). Its easternmost city is Eastport, and its easternmost town is Lubec. Its largest lake is Moosehead Lake, and its highest mountain is Mt. Katahdin, which is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. A new International Appalachian Trail starts at Mt. Katahdin and runs to Belle Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Maine also has several unique geographical features. Machias Seal Island, off its easternmost point, is claimed by both the U.S. and Canada and is one of the five North American land areas whose sovereignty is still in dispute. Also in this easternmost area is the Old Sow, the largest tidal whirlpool in the world.
Maine is the most sparsely populated state east of the Mississippi River, owing in part to its huge relative size—its land mass exceeds that of all other New England states combined. It is appropriately called the Pine Tree State, as 90% of its land is forest. In the forested areas of the interior there is much uninhabited land, some of which does not even have formal political organization into local units. For example, the Northwest Aroostook, Maine "territory" in the far north is listed as having an area of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km2) and a population of 27, or one person for every 100 square miles (255 km2).
Maine is equally well known for its dramatic ocean scenery. West Quoddy Head is the easternmost piece of land in the contiguous 48 United States. Along the famous rock-bound coast of Maine are lighthouses, sandy beaches, quiet fishing villages and thousands of offshore islands, including the Isles of Shoals, which straddle the New Hampshire border. Jagged rocks and cliffs and thousands of bays and inlets add to the rugged beauty of Maine's coast. Just inland, by contrast, is the view of sparkling lakes, rushing rivers, green forests and towering mountains. This visual contrast of forested slopes sweeping down to the sea has been aptly summed up by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay of Rockland and Camden, Maine in "Renascence":
- "All I could see from where I stood
- was three long mountains and a wood
- I turned and looked the other way
- and saw three islands and a bay"
Millions of ordinary Americans have enjoyed this coastal scenery at Maine's Acadia National Park, the only national park in New England.
The state experiences a continental climate, much more so in the southern part of the state, with Fahrenheit temperatures generally dipping into the 20s and 10s in the winter (-10 Celsius) and 80s and 90s in the summer (+30 Celsius). Wind chill often reduces the winter temperature to lows beyond -20.
Areas under the protection and management of the National Park Service include:
- Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor
- Appalachian National Scenic Trail
- Maine Acadian Culture in St. John Valley
- Roosevelt Campobello International Park near Lubec
- Saint Croix Island International Historic Site at Calais
History
The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking peoples including the Wabanaki, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscots. The first European settlement in Maine was in 1604 by a French party that included Samuel de Champlain, the noted explorer. The French named the area that includes Maine as Acadia. English colonists sponsored by the Plymouth Company settled in 1607. The coastal areas of western Maine first became the Province of Maine in a 1622 land patent. Eastern Maine north of the Kennebec River was more sparsely settled and was known in the 17th century as the Territory of Sagadahock.The province within its current boundaries became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1652. Maine was much fought over by the French and English during the 17th and early 18th centuries. After the defeat of the French in the 1740s, the territory from the Penobscot River east fell under the nominal authority of the Province of Nova Scotia, and together with present day New Brunswick formed the Nova Scotia county of Sunbury, with its court of general sessions at Campobello. American and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. The treaty concluding revolution was ambiguous about Maine's boundary with British North America. The territory of Maine was confirmed as part of Massachusetts when the United States was formed, although the final border with British territory was not established until the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. (Indeed, in 1839 Governor Fairfield declared war on England over a boundary dispute between New Brunswick and northern Maine. Known as the Aroostook War, this is the only time a state has declared war on a foreign power. The dispute was settled, however, before any blood was shed.)
Because it was physically separated from the rest of Massachusetts and was growing in population at a rapid rate, Maine became the 23rd state on March 15, 1820 through the Missouri Compromise. This compromise allowed admitting both Maine and Missouri (in 1821) into the union while keeping a balance between slave and free states. Maine's original capital was Portland until 1832, when it was moved to Augusta.
Demographics
| Historical populations | |
|---|---|
| Census year | Population |
| 1790 | 96,540 |
| 1800 | 151,719 |
| 1810 | 228,705 |
| 1820 | 298,335 |
| 1830 | 399,455 |
| 1840 | 501,793 |
| 1850 | 583,169 |
| 1860 | 628,279 |
| 1870 | 626,915 |
| 1880 | 648,936 |
| 1890 | 661,086 |
| 1900 | 694,466 |
| 1910 | 742,371 |
| 1920 | 768,014 |
| 1930 | 797,423 |
| 1940 | 847,226 |
| 1950 | 913,774 |
| 1960 | 969,265 |
| 1970 | 992,048 |
| 1980 | 1,124,660 |
| 1990 | 1,227,928 |
| 2000 | 1,274,923 |
As of 2005, Maine has an estimated population of 1,321,505, which is an increase of 6,520, or 0.5%, from the prior year and an increase of 46,582, or 3.7%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 6,413 people (that is 71,276 births minus 64,863 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 41,808 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 5,004 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 36,804 people.
Maine is a popular tourist destination, but it also experiences harsh winters and, consequently, the great temporary influx of visitors occurs during the warmer months. Many of these visitors establish an alternate secondary residence in Maine during some or all warm months and then depart for their primary residence in the off-season. These are the summer people of Maine lore. Official census figures normally count a person as a resident only once, at the place of the primary home. Therefore, there are some situations in which official census figures could be misleading for Maine. For example, some communities may have a much larger seasonal retail sector than their official, small population figure would imply.
As explained in detail under "Geography", there are large tracts of uninhabited land in some remote parts of the interior.
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Race and ancestry
The racial/ethnic makeup of the state is:- 96.5% White non-Hispanic
- 0.7% Hispanic
- 0.7% Asian
- 0.5% Black
- 0.6% American Indian
- 1% Mixed race
The five largest ancestries in the state are: French or French Canadian (22.8%), English (21.5%), Irish (15.1%), American (9.4%). Maine is second only to New Hampshire in the percentage of French Americans among U.S. states. It also has the largest percentage of non-Hispanic whites of any state and the highest percentage of current French-speakers. Franco-Mainers tended to settle in the industrial cities of inland Maine (especially Lewiston) whereas much of the midcoast and downeast sections remain strongly Anglo. Smaller numbers of various other groups, including Germans, and Italians, settled around the state. If current population trends remain the same, Maine is expected to be the last of the U.S. states to obtain majority-minority status, which it is expected to receive somewhere near the year 2146.
The 2000 Census reported 92.2% of Maine residents age 5 and older speak English at home. Census figures show Maine has a greater proportion of people speaking French at home than any other state in the nation, a result of Maine's large French-Canadian community. 5.3% of Maine households are French-speaking, compared with 4.68% in Louisiana. Spanish is the third most spoken language at 0.8%, followed by German at 0.3% and Italian at 0.1%.
Religion
The religious affiliations of the people of Maine are shown below:- Christian – 82%
- *Protestant – 56%
- **Baptist – 16%
- **Methodist – 9%
- **Pentecostal – 6%
- **Church of Christ – 3%
- **Lutheran – 3%
- **Other Protestant or general Protestant – 18%
- *Roman Catholic – 25%
- *Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 17%
Economy
[The Bureau of Economic Analysis] estimates that Maine's total gross state product for 2003 was US$41 billion. Its per capita personal income for 2003 was US$29,164, 29th in the nation.Maine's agricultural outputs are seafood (notably lobsters), poultry and eggs, dairy products, cattle, blueberries, apples, and maple sugar. Aroostook County is known for its potato crops. Western Maine aquifers and springs are a major source of bottled water. Its industrial outputs consist of mainly paper, lumber and wood products, electronic equipment, leather products, food products, textiles, and bio-technology. Naval shipbuilding and construction remain key as well, with Bath Iron Works in Bath and Portsmouth Naval Yard in Kittery. Brunswick Naval Air Station is also in Maine, and serves as a large support base for the U.S. Navy. However, the BRAC campaign recommended Brunswick's closing, despite significant recent investment by the government to upgrade its facilities.
Maine ports play a key role in national transportation. Beginning around 1880, Portland's rail link and ice-free port made it Canada's principal winter port, until the aggressive development of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the mid-1900s. In 2001, Maine's largest city of Portland surpassed Boston as New England's busiest port (by tonnage), due to its ability to handle large tankers. Maine's Portland International Jetport was recently expanded, providing the state with increased air traffic from carriers such as jetBlue.
Maine has a small trapping industry which, with 3,157 resident trappers, is larger than that of most Eastern states (Source: Portland Press Herald, January 23, 2005. Note: Many trappers are part-time). The principal pelt taken by value is beaver. Historically, however, beaver trapping was much more significant in the North Woods and Canadian Maritimes than the small industry of today and was the cause of much early wealth and many trading settlements.
Maine has very few large companies that maintain headquarters in the state, and fewer than before due to consolidations and mergers, particularly in the pulp and paper industry. Structurally, this could be a weakness in an economy that depends on extracting forest and sea resources, because decisions that affect the long-range stability of the resource base are being made in distant locations which do not have to live with the day-to-day consequences of their policies. Some of the very few large companies that do maintain headquarters in Maine include Fairchild Semiconductor (South Portland) , IDEXX Laboratories (a large veterinary biotech company in Westbrook), insurance giant Unum Provident (Portland) , the famous outdoor supply retailer L. L. Bean (Freeport), and MBNA (Brunswick). Maine is also the home of The Jackson Laboratory, a non-profit institution and the world's largest mammalian genetic research facility.
Maine has an income tax structure containing 4 brackets, which range from 2% to 8.5% of personal income. Maine's general sales tax rate is 5%. • The state also levies charges of 7% on lodging and prepared food and 10% on short-term auto rentals. Commercial sellers of blueberries, a Maine staple, must keep records of their transactions and pay the state 1.5 cents per pound ($1.50 per 100 pounds) of the fruit sold each season. All real and tangible personal property located in the state of Maine is taxable unless specifically exempted by statute. While property taxes in Maine are assessed at the local level, municipal assessors are governed by state statutes that are administered by the Property Tax Division of Maine Revenue Services. The division consists of two sections: Municipal Services and Unorganized Territory. The administration of property taxes is handled by the local assessor in incorporated cities and towns. Property tax bills are issued by the municipality where the property is located on either an annual, semi-annual or quarterly basis. Property taxes in unorganized territory are handled by the State Tax Assessor.
Transportation
Interstate highway I-95 runs through Maine, as well as its easterly branch I-295. In addition, US Route 1 starts in Maine, and runs to Florida. The state of Maine has two major airports with scheduled commercial jet service (The Portland International Jetport and Bangor International Airport.) US Airways also services a number of smaller regional airports with 19 to 34 seat commuter prop aircraft. The Portland International Jetport is by far the busiest airport in the state, with scheduled jet service to points as far south as Atlanta, and as far west as Chicago. The low-cost carrier JetBlue recently began service to Portland with four flights daily to New York JFK. Maine is also serviced by rail by Amtrak's Downeaster, as well as seasonal regional rail service.Law and government
The Maine State Constitution created Maine's government system, with three co-equal branches - the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The state of Maine also has three Constitutional Officers (the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, and the State Attorney General) and one Statutory Officer (the State Auditor). The Executive Branch is responsible for execution of the laws created by the legislature and is headed by the Governor (currently John Baldacci (Democrat)). The governor is elected every four years, and no individual may serve more than two consecutive terms in this office. The Judicial Branch is responsible for interpreting the laws and is headed by the Supreme Judicial Court. All judicial officers are appointed by the governor and serve a term of 7 years. The Legislative Branch is responsible for making the laws and is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 35 members who are elected every 2 years, and the House has 151 members who are also elected every two years.
Its two U.S. senators are Susan Collins (Republican) and Olympia Snowe (Republican).
See Also: 2006 Maine gubernatorial election, 2006
Politics
Maine's politics are notable and are dramatic for several reasons. In the 1930s, it was one of very few states which remained dominated by the Republican Party. In the 1936 Presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt received the electoral votes of every state other than Maine and Vermont. In the 1960s, Maine began to lean toward the Democrats, especially in Presidential elections. In 1968, Hubert Humphrey became just the second Democrat in half a century to carry Maine thanks to the presence of his running mate, Maine Senator Edmund Muskie. Maine has since become a left-leaning swing state, but has voted Democratic in four straight Presidential elections, casting its votes for Bill Clinton twice, Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry (with 53.6% of the vote) in 2004. Republican strength is greatest in Washington and Piscataquis counties. Though Democrats have carried the state in presidential elections in recent years, Republicans have largely maintained their control of the state's U.S. Senate seats, with Ed Muskie, William Hathaway and George Mitchell being the only Maine Democrats serving in the U.S. Senate in the past fifty years.Maine voters tend to accept independent and third-party candidates more frequently than most states. Maine has had two independent governors recently (James B. Longley, 1975–1979 and Angus King, 1995–2003). The Reform Party of Ross Perot achieved a great deal in Maine in the presidential elections of 1992 and 1996: in 1992 Perot came in second to Bill Clinton, despite the longtime presence of the Bush family summer home in Kennebunkport, and in 1996, Maine was again Perot's best state.
The Green Party candidate won nine percent of the vote in the 2002 gubernatorial election, more than in any election for a statewide office for that party. The Green Party also elected John Eder to the office of State Representative in Maine, its highest elected official nationwide. Pat LaMarche, 2004 Green Party vice-presidential candidate, resides in the southern coastal town of Yarmouth. Maine politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, are noted for having more moderate views than many in their party.
Since 1969, two of Maine's four electoral votes are awarded based on the winner of the statewide election. The other two go to the highest vote-winner in each of the state's two congressional districts.
Famous politicians from Maine include James Blaine, Edmund Muskie, Margaret Chase Smith, William Cohen, George J. Mitchell, John Baldacci, Olympia Snowe, Hannibal Hamlin, Susan Collins, Owen Brewster, and Percival Baxter.
Maine is an Alcoholic beverage control state.