District of Maine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The District of Maine was a legal designation for what is now the U.S. state of Maine from American independence until the Missouri Compromise on March 4, 1820, after which it gained its independence from Massachusetts and became the 23rd state in the Union. The term "District of Maine" is also used to refer to the United States District Court for the District of Maine, whose jurisdiction includes the entire state of Maine.
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[edit] Province of Maine
Originally settled in 1607 by the Plymouth Company, the coastal areas of western Maine first became the Province of Maine in a 1622 land patent. In 1677, the Province of Maine was sold to Massachusetts Bay Colony for the sum of £1250 (and later incorporated into the territory of the Province of Massachusetts Bay), and the area was known as the Province of Maine of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
[edit] District of Maine
As divided by the Continental Congress in 1778, the District of Maine was the northernmost of three districts in Massachusetts. At the time, the district was composed of York, Cumberland and Lincoln Counties, the area having been York County, Massachusetts until the creation of Cumberland and Lincoln in 1760. (By 1820, the time of its statehood, Maine would add Hancock, Kennebec, Oxford, Penobscot, Somerset and Washington Counties.) During the War of 1812 the British conquered a large portion of Maine including everything from the Penobscot River east to the New Brunswick border. This contributed to the ultimate division of Maine from Massachusetts in 1820.
[edit] State of Maine
Maine became the 23rd state on March 15, 1820, as part of the Missouri Compromise.
