William Williamson to Joseph Williamson on the final vote for separation, Boston, 1819
Maine Historical Society
For several months after the heated Brunswick Convention, separation was only a whisper. Yet by February 1818, the issue was brought up again—and this time the separationists had devised a clever plan. William King's brother Rufus, along with the Secretary of Treasury William Crawford, passed a revised Coasting Law through Congress, which turned the entire eastern seaboard into one district and thus avoided the economic burden and inefficiency of travel under the Coasting Law of 1789. The pro-separation press rejoiced, with one editor writing that "a vessel may go from Portland to Savannah without being under any necessity to enter and clear" burdensome state customs. As a result, any coastal opposition to separation could no longer be based on the hindrance of the former Coasting Law, and many who had previously held out began to support an independent Maine.[28]
After the news regarding this revised bill went public, separationist petitioners flooded the General Court. Additionally, all nine of Maine's senators elected that spring were separationists. With this incredible momentum, by May 1819 the question of separation went into governmental review. It was agreed that if separation should pass in the Massachusetts General Court in June, then the voters of Maine must vote in July to separate, and win by a margin of 1,500. A bill over the matter was vehemently argued on the floor of the Massachusetts Senate from June 11 to June 15, and passed 26-11. Two days later the bill passed on the floor of the House, 193-59.[29]
Finally, after three decades of planning, organizing, lobbying and failure, Massachusetts Governor John Brooks signed the bill on June 19, and on the 26 of July Maine citizens voted 17,091-7,132 in favor of separation.[30] The District of Maine was now officially independent from Massachusetts, and the only thing standing its way from full statehood status was a vote in Washington to admit it into the Union.
[28] For a detailed account of the transition in oppositional arguments at this time, see Banks, Maine Becomes a State, 127-129.
[29] This provision was strongly opposed by many separationists, who viewed it as undemocratic. Banks, Maine Becomes a State, 136-137.
[30] Banks, Maine Becomes a State, 134-137, 146.
[31] Note that this broadside is signed by Stephen Longfellow, Jr. This refers to Stephen Longfellow IV. His father, Stephen Longfellow III, was previously active in the earlier fight for separation in the 1780s and 1790s.
