New Map of English America, 1677
Item 104604 info
Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education
This French map of America’s Eastern seaboard reinforced the benefits of the 1789 Coasting Law on Maine’s coastal communities, since it opened up trade from Maine without financial penalty to New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.
In 1818, those favoring separation of Maine from Massachusetts—including senator Rufus King, brother of Maine’s future governor, William King—worked to pass a revised Coasting Law through Congress. They created one large district for the Eastern seaboard, avoiding the economic burden and inefficiency of travel under the Coasting Law of 1789 if Maine separated from Massachusetts. As a result, many who had previously held out began to support an independent Maine
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