New Hampshire

Encyclopedia : N : NE : NEW : New Hampshire

This article is about the state. For the Robert Frost collection, see New Hampshire (book).

New Hampshire is a U.S. state located in the Northeast United States. The state ranks 46th of the 50 states in land area and 41st in population. It is internationally famous for the New Hampshire primary, the first primary in the quadrennial American election cycle. The primary draws more attention by far than all other primaries and has often been decisive in shaping the national contest. Its license plates boast the famous state motto: "Live free or die." Antebellum New Hampshire produced numerous youth who went on to become famous national leaders after moving to Boston or New York City, including Senator Daniel Webster, editor Horace Greeley, and Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science religion.

The state nicknames is "Granite State," in reference both to its geology and to its tradition of self-sufficiency. Several other official nicknames exist but are rarely if ever used [link].

New Hampshire's recreational attractions include skiing and other winter sports; observing the spectacular fall foliage; summer cottages along many lakes; and the New Hampshire International Speedway, home of the Loudon Classic, the longest-running motorcycle race in the United States.

Geography

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New Hampshire is part of the New England region. It is bounded by Quebec, Canada to the north and northwest; Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east; Massachusetts to the south; and Vermont to the west. New Hampshire's major regions are the Great North Woods, the White Mountains, the Lakes Region, the Seacoast, the Merrimack Valley, the Monadnock Region, and the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee area. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any U.S. state, with a coastline of 18 miles (29 km).

New Hampshire, showing roads, rivers and major cities

The White Mountains range in New Hampshire spans the north-central portion of the state, with Mount Washington being the tallest in the northeastern U.S., and other mountains like Mount Madison and Mount Adams surrounding it. With hurricane-force winds every third day on the average, over 100 recorded deaths among visitors, and conspicuous krummholz (dwarf, matted trees much like a carpet of bonsai trees), the upper reaches of Mount Washington claim the title of having the "worst weather on earth." A non-profit observatory is located on the peak for the purposes of observing the harsh environmental conditions.

In the flatter southwest corner of New Hampshire another feature, the prominent landmark and tourist attraction of Mount Monadnock, has given its name to a general class of earth-forms—a monadnock signifying, in geomorphology, any isolated resistant peak rising from a less resistant eroded plain.

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail passes through New Hampshire, and the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site is located in Cornish.

Major rivers include the 110-mile (177-km) Merrimack River, which bisects the lower half of the state north-south and ends up in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Its major tributaries include the Contoocook River, Pemigewasset River, and Winnipesaukee River. The 410-mile (670-km) Connecticut River, which starts at New Hampshire's Connecticut Lakes and flows south to Connecticut, defines the western border with Vermont. Oddly, the state border is not in the center of that river, as is usually the case, but lies at the low-water mark on the Vermont side; so New Hampshire actually owns the entire river where it runs adjacent to Vermont. The "northwesternmost headwaters" of the Connecticut also define the Canadian border with New Hampshire.

The Piscataqua River and its several tributaries form the state's only significant ocean port where they flow into the Atlantic at Portsmouth. The Salmon Falls River and the Piscataqua define the southern portion of the border with Maine. The state has an ongoing boundary dispute with Maine in the area of Portsmouth Harbor, with New Hampshire claiming dominion over several islands (now known as Seavey Island) that include the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as well as to the Maine towns of Kittery and Berwick.

The largest lake is Lake Winnipesaukee, which covers 72 square miles (186 km²) in the east-central part of New Hampshire.

Hampton Beach is a popular local summer destination. About 10 miles (16 km) offshore are the Isles of Shoals, nine small islands (4 belonging to the state) best known as the site of a 19th-century art colony founded by poet Celia Thaxter, as well as the alleged location of one of the buried treasures of the pirate Blackbeard.

It is the second-most-forested state in the country, after Maine, in terms of percentage of land covered by woods. This change was caused by the abandonment of farms by owners during the 20th century as many farmers took wage jobs in urban areas or moved to more productive areas. The return of woodlands from open fields forms the subject of many poems by Robert Frost, while the emigration is consistent with the results of New Hampshire native and newspaper legend Horace Greeley's famous advice: "Go west, young man."

The northern third of the state, locally referred to as "north of the notches" in reference to White Mountain passes that channel traffic, contains less than 5% of the state's population, suffers from relatively high poverty rates, and is losing population as the logging and paper industries decline. However, the tourist industry, in particular visitors who go to northern New Hampshire to take advantage of the lengthy ski season in the winter, have brought in revenue that helps to offset the losses from mill closures.

History

New Hampshire was explored 1600-1605 and first settled in 1623. By 1631 the Upper Plantation comprised modern-day Dover, Durham and Stratham; in 1679 it became the "Royal Province." Indian raids were a serious problem before 1763.

It was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. It was the first state to declare its independence, but the only battle fought there was the raid on Fort William and Mary, December 14, 1774 in Portsmouth Harbor, which netted the rebellion sizable quantities of gunpowder, small arms, and cannon (General Sullivan, leader of the raid, described it as, "remainder of the powder, the small arms, bayonets, and cartouch-boxes, together with the cannon and ordnance stores") over the course of two nights. This raid was preceded by a warning to local patriots the previous day, by Paul Revere on December 13, 1774 that the fort was to be reinforced by troops sailing from Boston. This raid is widely regarded (outside Massachusetts) as the [first battle of the Revolutionary War]. According to unverified accounts, the gunpowder was later used at the Battle of Bunker Hill, transported there by Major Demerit, who was one of several NH patriots who stored the powder in their homes until it was transported elsewhere for use in revolutionary activities.

New Hampshire was a Jacksonian stronghold; the state sent Franklin Pierce to the White House in the election of 1852. Industrialization took the form of numerous textile mills, which in turn attracted large flows of immigrants from Quebec (the "French Canadians") and Ireland. The northern parts of the state produced lumber and the mountains provided tourist attractions. After 1960, the textile industry collapsed, but the economy rebounded as a center of high technology and a service provider.

Since 1952, New Hampshire gained national and international attention for its presidential primary held early in every presidential election year. It immediately became the most important testing grounds for candidates for the Republican and Democratic nominations. The media give New Hampshire (and Iowa) about half of all the attention paid to all states in the primary process, magnifying the state's decision power (and spurring repeated efforts by out-of-state politicians to change the rules.)

Demographics

As of 2005, New Hampshire has an estimated population of 1,309,940, which is an increase of 10,771, or 0.8%, from the prior year and an increase of 74,154, or 6.0%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 23,872 people (that is 75,060 births minus 51,188 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 51,968 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 11,107 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 40,861 people.

As of 2004, the population includes 64,000 foreign-born (4.9%).

New Hampshire Population Density Map The racial makeup of the state is: 95.1% White 1.3% Asian 0.7% Black 0.2% Native American 1.1% Mixed race 1.7% of the population is Hispanic, a category that includes members of any race The five largest ancestry groups in New Hampshire are: French or French Canadian (25.2%),Irish (19.4%), British (18%), German (8.6%). People of old colonial ("Yankee") ancestry live throughout most of New Hampshire. The large Irish American and French-Canadian elements are the children and grand-children of mill workers, and they still live in the former mill towns, like Manchester. New Hampshire has the highest percentage of residents of French/French-Canadian ancestry of any state. The fastest growth is along the southern border, which is within commuting range of Boston and other Massachusetts cities.

Religion

• Christian – 80%
• *Protestant – 43%
• **Congregational/United Church of Christ – 7%
• **Baptist – 7%
• **Episcopal – 4%
• **Methodist – 3%
• **Other Protestant – 22%
• *Roman Catholic – 35%
• *Other Christian – 2%
• Jewish – <1%
• Muslim – <1%
• Other Religions – 1%
• Non-Religious – 19%

See also List of people from New Hampshire

Economy

[The Bureau of Economic Analysis] estimates that New Hampshire's total state product in 2003 was $49 billion. Per capita personal income in 2003 was $35,140, 7^th in the nation. Its agricultural outputs are dairy products, nursery stock, cattle, apples, and eggs. Its industrial outputs are machinery, electric equipment, rubber and plastic products, and tourism.

New Hampshire experienced a significant shift in its economic base during the last century. Historically, the base was comprised of the traditional New England manufactures of textiles, shoe-making, and small machining shops drawing upon low-wage labor from nearby small farms and from parts of Quebec. Today, these sectors contribute only 2% for textiles, 2% for leather goods, and 9% for machining of the state's total manufacturing dollar value (Source: U.S. Economic Census for 1997, Manufacturing, New Hampshire). They experienced a sharp decline due to obsolete plants and the lure of cheaper wages in the South.

The state has no sales tax, no personal income tax (the state does tax, at a 5 percent rate, income from dividends and interest) and advocates a frugal budget, thereby attracting commuters, light industry, specialty horticulture, retail customers and service firms from other jurisdictions with higher tax policies, notably from neighboring Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine (and to a lesser extent, New York). Efforts to diversify the state's general economy have been ongoing.

Additionally, New Hampshire's lack of a broad-based tax system (aside from the controversial state-wide property tax) has resulted in the state's local communities having some of the nation's highest property taxes. Overall, New Hampshire remains ranked 49th among states in combined average state and local tax burden. Nevertheless, ongoing efforts from unhappy homeowners for property tax relief continues. They have argued that Massachusetts (and other neighboring states) residents are shopping in their state tax free, and New Hampshire homeowners are paying them for the privilege.

See also State income tax, List of states without personal income tax.

Law and government

State line on NH Rt. 111 in Hollis

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The governor of New Hampshire is John Lynch (Democrat). New Hampshire's two U.S. senators are Judd Gregg (Republican) and John E. Sununu (Republican).

New Hampshire has a bifurcated executive branch, consisting of the governor and a five-member Executive Council which votes on state contracts over $5,000 and "advises and consents" to the governor's nominations to major state positions such as department heads and all judgeships and pardon requests. New Hampshire does not have a Lieutenant Governor; the Senate President serves as "Acting Governor" whenever the governor is unable to perform the duties.

The New Hampshire General Court is a bicameral legislative body, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representative is the fourth-largest legislative body in the English speaking world with 400 members. Only the US House, the British House of Commons and the Indian Parliament are larger. Presumably because the position pays just $100 per year plus mileage, members are more likely to be retired. A survey published by the Associated Press in 2005 found that nearly half the members of the House are retired, with an average age close to 60.[link] The General Court meets in the New Hampshire State House.

The state's sole appellate court is the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The Superior Court is the court of general jurisdiction and the only court which provides for jury trials in civil or criminal cases. The other state courts are the Probate Court, District Court, and the Family Division.

The New Hampshire State Constitution is the supreme law of the state, followed by the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated. The State Constitution is the nation's only state constitution which allows the right of revolution, and one of the few that does not mandate the provision of a public school system.

New Hampshire is also the only state with no mandatory seatbelt law for adults, and also has no motorcycle helmet law for adults nor mandatory vehicle insurance for automobiles. Although the state retains the death penalty for limited crimes, the last execution was conducted in 1939. New Hampshire is the only state that does not mandate public kindergarten, partly out of frugality and lack of funding, and partly out of belief in local control, a philosophy under which towns and cities, not the state, make as many decisions as possible. As of 2005, all but two dozen communities in the state provided public kindergarten.

New Hampshire is a "Dillon Rule" state, meaning that powers not specifically granted to municipalities are retained by the state government. Even so, there is within the state's legislature a strong sentiment favoring so-called "local control," particularly with regard to land use regulations. Traditionally, local government in New Hampshire is conducted by town meetings, but in 1995, municipalities were given the option of using an official ballot to decide local electoral and budgetary questions, as opposed to the more open and public town meeting.

New Hampshire is an Alcoholic Beverage Control state, and through the State Liquor Commission it takes in $100 million from the sale and distribution of liquor.[State of New Hampshire Department of Administrative Services - Monthly Revenue Focus (FY 2005)] The state also leads the country in per capita sales of all forms of alcohol.[National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism - SURVEILLANCE REPORT #73: APPARENT PER CAPITA ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION: NATIONAL, STATE, AND REGIONAL TRENDS, 1977–2003]

Politics

New Hampshire has historically been dominated by the Republican Party, and is still considered to be the most conservative state in the Northeast; but in national elections it has become a swing state. It was the only U.S. state to give its electoral votes to George W. Bush in the 2000 election (when Bush lost the popular vote nationwide) but switch sides to the Democrats in the 2004 election (when Bush won the popular vote nationwide). New Hampshire most recently gave its four electoral votes to John Kerry in 2004 with 50.2% of the vote. The state supported Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, but prior to that had only strayed from the Republican Party for three candidates—Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Unlike other northeastern states, Republicans dominate local and state offices. Republicans hold both U.S. Senate and House of Representative seats, and control both houses of the state legislature. However, in 2004, Democrat John Lynch defeated one-term governor Republican Craig Benson. Democratic strength is greatest in Strafford, Cheshire, Grafton and Merrimack counties, as well as in Berlin, Portsmouth, Durham and parts of Nashua and Manchester.

New Hampshire has a Libertarian-like political tradition that ostensibly values individual freedom and limited exercise of state governmental powers. The state has the highest per capita elected and appointed Libertarians and the highest density of Libertarian Party members in the nation, however the Libertarian Party does not perform well in the state relative to the rest of the country. The Free State Project selected New Hampshire as its destination due to its "Live Free or Die" libertarian-esque heritage.

Education

High schools

• [N.H. public schools with a Web presence]

• Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua
• Cardigan Mountain School
• Derryfield School
• Dublin School
• Holderness School
• Holy Family Academy
• Kimball Union Academy
• Phillips Exeter Academy
• Proctor Academy in Andover
• Salem High School
• St. Paul's School
• St. Thomas Aquinas High School
• Tilton School
• Trinity High School

Colleges and universities

Culture

Professional sport teams

New Hampshire Fisher Cats Logo.

Minor league baseball teams:

• Nashua Pride
• New Hampshire Fisher Cats
• Concord Quarry Dogs

• Manchester Monarchs

• Manchester Wolves
• Manchester SeaMonsters

• New Hampshire Phantoms

In fiction

• New Hampshire is the home state of fictional United States President Josiah Bartlet on the television drama series The West Wing.
• Peterborough is the inspiration for the town of Grover's Corners, in Thornton Wilder's play Our Town.
• The novel Peyton Place was inspired by Gilmanton, New Hampshire.
• Riverdale High, where the cartoon character Archie and the gang have their adventures, was allegedly based in part on Manchester Central High School.
• Although every college claims to be the inspiration for the film Animal House, Dartmouth College has the strongest claim, because one of the scriptwriters, Chris Miller, went to college there.
• Al Capp, creator of the comic strip Li'l Abner, used to joke that Dogpatch, the setting for the strip, was based on Seabrook, where he would vacation with his wife. [Susan Morse, "Last of the Yankees", Portsmouth Herald, July 4, 2004.]
• John Knowles based the Devon School in A Separate Peace on the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter. The prep school in John Irving's The World According to Garp was also based on the Phillips Exeter Academy. Irving's stepfather was a faculty member at the school, and Irving himself is an alumnus.
• Joyce Maynard grew up in Durham, New Hampshire and based several novels on life in the Granite State, most notably To Die For, which is loosely based on the Pamela Smart murder case.

Daily newspapers

Notable residents or natives

Other publications

• Exeter Newsletter
• The New Hampshire Gazette Portsmouth alternative biweekly, claims to be the oldest newspaper in America
• New Hampshire Business Review
• Hippo Press (Manchester, Nashua and Concord editions)
• The New Hampshire - University of New Hampshire student newspaper
• The Clock - Plymouth State University student newspaper
• The Londonderry Times
• The Nutfield News
• The Littleton Courier

Movie theaters

Several independent theaters exist, including the Ioka theater in Exeter and the Wilton Town Hall Theater. The Music Hall in Portsmouth also shows movies as well as its events.

Three drive-in movie theaters still operate in the state, in Laconia, Milford, Woodsville.

Miscellaneous topics

• In Charlestown there is the reconstructed Fort at Number 4 from the 1740s and 1750s.
• New Hampshire is host to the New Hampshire Highland Games. New Hampshire has also registered an official tartan with the proper authorities in Scotland, used to make kilts worn by the State Police while they serve during the games.
• New Hampshire is the healthiest state in the nation, tied with Minnesota, as ranked by the United Health Foundation, 2003.
• New Hampshire has the only piece of Interstate highway that is two-lane (a single northbound lane and a single southbound lane) with a cobblestone median. This was done to preserve Franconia Notch, the site of the Old Man of the Mountain, a former rock formation visible from Interstate 93 in Franconia.
• Its license plates boast the famous state motto: "Live free or die." Antebellum New Hampshire produced numerous youth who went on to become famous national leaders.
• New Hampshire was the last of the New England states to observe Fast Day, a day of prayer for a bountiful harvest. It was a legal holiday until 1991, when it was replaced by Civil Rights Day, which was later renamed "Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Day", becoming the second to last state to have a "Martin Luther King" day. [link]
• In 2003, it gained international attention for having the first openly gay bishop of a large mainline Christian church, Gene Robinson, within the Anglican Communion (the Episcopal Church in the United States of America).
• New Hampshire's recreational attractions include skiing and other winter sports; "leaf-peeping" or observing the spectacular fall foliage; summer cottages along many lakes; and the New Hampshire International Speedway, home of the Loudon Classic, the longest-running motorcycle race in the United States.
• USS New Hampshire was named in honor of this state.
• Killington, Vermont has twice voted to secede from Vermont and join New Hampshire—a largely symbolic act, since secession would require the agreement of both states' legislatures and the U.S. Congress. Supporters of secession note that almost all Vermont towns were first chartered by New Hampshire and point out that the two states already have some unusual cross-border links, including two of the rare interstate school districts in the United States (a third is shared by Oregon and Nevada).

Granite State firsts

• On January 5, 1776 at Exeter, the Province of New Hampshire ratified the first independent state constitution, free of British rule.
• On June 12, 1800, Fernald's Island in the Piscataqua River became the first government-sanctioned US Navy shipyard.
• Started in 1822, Dublin's Juvenile Library was the first free public library.
• In 1828, the first women's strike in the nation took place at Dover's Cocheco Mills.
• In 1845, the machine shop of Nashuan John H. Gage was considered the first shop devoted to the manufacture of machinists' tools.
• On August 29, 1866, Sylvester Marsh demonstrated the first mountain-climbing "cog" railway.
• Finished on June 27, 1874, the first trans-Atlantic telecommunications cable between Europe and America stretched from Balinskelligs Bay, Ireland, to Rye Beach, New Hampshire.
• On February 6, 1901, a group of nine conservationists founded the [Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests], the first forest conservation advocacy group in the US.
• In 1908, Monsignor Pierre Hevey organized the nation's first credit union, in Manchester, to help mill workers save and borrow money.
• In July 1944, the Bretton Woods Agreement, the first fully-negotiated system intended to govern monetary relations among independent nation-states, was signed at the Mount Washington Hotel.
• On May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard Jr. of Derry rode a Mercury spacecraft and became the first American in space.
• In 1963, New Hampshire's legislature approved the nation's first legal state lottery.
• In 1966, Ralph Baer of Sanders Associates, Inc., Nashua, recruited engineers to develop the first home video game.
• Christa McAuliffe of Concord became the first private citizen selected to venture into space. She perished with her six space shuttle Challenger crewmates in January 28, 1986.

See also

• Scouting in New Hampshire

References