Maine Memory Network

Portland Democratic Caucus, February 11, 1980

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1980-02-11 Location: Portland Media: Photographic print

Request for G.F. Shepley speech, Skowhegan, 1868

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1868 Location: Portland; Skowhegan Media: Ink on paper

  view a full transcription

Margaret Chase Smith: A Historic Candidacy

When she announced her candidacy for President in January 1964, three-term Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman to seek the nomination of one of the two major political parties.

George F. Shepley: Lawyer, Soldier, Administrator

George F. Shepley of Portland had achieved renown as a lawyer and as U.S. Attorney for Maine when, at age 42 he formed the 12th Maine Infantry and went off to war. Shepley became military governor of Louisiana early in 1862 and remained in the military for the duration of the war.

John Martin: Expert Observer - James Dunning, Bangor, ca. 1867

"… I was a d -- med fool." The quote is from a speech he gave at Bangor City Hall September 16, 1866."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Neal Dow

"… brutality, degradation and crime." - Neal Dow, Speech on his 93rd birthday, March 18, 1897 X Great Moral Ideas in the State Treasury, ca."

How the first chapter Veterans for Peace was founded in Maine
by Doug Rawlings

Veterans for Peace was founded in Maine and is now an international movement

Bob Hodge:A rocky road to become Biddeford school superintendent
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center

The son of immigrants, Bob's hard work and determination leads to a life of community service.

Maine Statehood and the Missouri Compromise

Grade Level: 9-12 Content Area: Social Studies
Using primary sources, students will explore the arguments for and against Maine statehood and the Missouri Compromise, and the far-reaching implications of Maine statehood and the Missouri Compromise such as the preservation and spread of slavery in the United States. Students will gather evidence and arguments to debate the statement: The Missouri Compromise was deeply flawed and ultimately did more harm to the Union than good.

Longfellow Studies: Longfellow Amongst His Contemporaries - The Ship of State DBQ

Grade Level: 9-12 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Preparation Required/Preliminary Discussion: Lesson plans should be done in the context of a course of study on American literature and/or history from the Revolution to the Civil War. The ship of state is an ancient metaphor in the western world, especially among seafaring people, but this figure of speech assumed a more widespread and literal significance in the English colonies of the New World. From the middle of the 17th century, after all, until revolution broke out in 1775, the dominant system of governance in the colonies was the Navigation Acts. The primary responsibility of colonial governors, according to both Parliament and the Crown, was the enforcement of the laws of trade, and the governors themselves appointed naval officers to ensure that the various provisions and regulations of the Navigation Acts were executed. England, in other words, governed her American colonies as if they were merchant ships. This metaphorical conception of the colonies as a naval enterprise not only survived the Revolution but also took on a deeper relevance following the construction of the Union. The United States of America had now become the ship of state, launched on July 4th 1776 and dedicated to the radical proposition that all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights. This proposition is examined and tested in any number of ways during the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War. Novelists and poets, as well as politicians and statesmen, questioned its viability: Whither goes the ship of state? Is there a safe harbor somewhere up ahead or is the vessel doomed to ruin and wreckage? Is she well built and sturdy or is there some essential flaw in her structural frame?