Aroostook War
Encyclopedia
The Aroostook War was an undeclared nonviolent confrontation in 1838/1839 between the United States and Great Britain over the international boundary between British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...

 (Canada) and Maine. The compromise resolution win a mutually accepted border between the state of Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

 and the provinces of New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

 and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

. High tensions and heated rhetoric in Maine and New Brunswick led both sides to raise troops, arm them, and march them to the disputed border. President Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....

 sent Brigadier General Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....

 to work out a compromise. The compromise created a neutral area, and the excitement faded away as the diplomats took over.

The Aroostook War involved no actual confrontation between military forces, and negotiations between diplomats from Britain and United States Secretary of State Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...

 quickly settled the dispute. Secretary of State Webster secretly funded a propaganda campaign that convinced leaders in Maine of the wisdom of compromise. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty
Webster-Ashburton Treaty
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9, 1842, was a treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies...

 of 1842 established final boundary between the countries, giving most of the disputed area to Maine and a militarily vital connection between Canadian provinces to Britain. Though there was no conflict between military forces, occasionally civilian lumberjacks became violent if they spotted people on the wrong side of the border.

Disputed border

The Treaty of Paris (1783)
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...

 ended the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 but did not clearly determine the boundary between British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...

 (Canada) and the United States. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 thereafter began issuing land grants in its District of Maine
District of Maine
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...

, including the areas that Britain still claimed.

During the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

, the British occupied most of eastern Maine, including Washington County
Washington County, Maine
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. In 2010, its population was 32,856. Its county seat is Machias.Sometimes referred to as "Sunrise County" because it is the easternmost county in the United States, and it is often where the rising sun first shines on the 48...

, Hancock County
Hancock County, Maine
Hancock County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of 2010, the population was 54,418. Its county seat is Ellsworth. It was incorporated on June 25, 1789...

, and parts of Penobscot County, Maine
Penobscot County, Maine
Penobscot County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. For U.S. Census statistical purposes, it is part of the Bangor, Maine, New England County Metropolitan Area . As of 2010, the population was 153,923...

, for eight months, intending to permanently annex the region into Canada. The Treaty of Ghent
Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent , signed on 24 December 1814, in Ghent , was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

 ended the war in 1814 and reestablished the boundary line of Treaty of Paris (1783), but left the border ambiguities intact. The parties sent a collaborative survey team to locate and mark the source of the St. Croix River, the principal geographical feature identified in the earlier treaty. The eastern boundary of the United States ran north to the highland, where it met the Northwest Angle of Nova Scotia. A monument was put on the site where the waters passed through the Chiputicook Lakes.

When Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

 broke away from Massachusetts in 1820 as a separate state, the status and location of the border emerged as a chief concern to the new state government. Massachusetts also retained an interest in the matter, as it retained half of public lands in Maine, including a large part of the disputed territory, as its property.

As late as September 1825, Maine and Massachusetts Land Agents issued deeds, sold timber permits, took censuses, and recorded births, deaths, and marriages in the contested area of the Saint John River valley and its tributaries. Massachusetts Land Agent George Coffin recorded in his journal during one such journey during autumn 1825, returning from the Upper Saint John and Madawaska
Madawaska
Madawaska may refer to several places:in Canada*Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada*The Republic of Madawaska*Madawaska River *Madawaska River , in Quebec and New Brunswick*Madawaska, Ontario*Madawaska Valley, Ontario...

 area to Fredericton, New Brunswick
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Fredericton is the capital of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by virtue of the provincial parliament which sits there. An important cultural, artistic, and educational centre for the province, Fredericton is home to two universities and cultural institutions such as the Beaverbrook Art...

, that a thunderstorm had ignited a forest fire. This Miramichi Fire
Miramichi Fire
The Great Miramichi Fire refers to a massive forest fire which devastated forests and communities throughout much of northern New Brunswick in October 1825. It ranks among the three largest forest fires ever recorded in North America. About 1/3 of the homes in Fredericton were destroyed, but the...

 destroyed thousands of acres of prime New Brunswick timber, killed hundreds of settlers, left thousands more homeless, and destroyed several thriving communities. The journal entries of the newly appointed Governor of New Brunswick record the destruction and comments that survival of New Brunswick depended on the vast forests to the west in the area disputed with the United States.

Growing tensions

The mixed character of the population in the disputed area. Mostly early Acadians (descendants of the original French colonists) settled Saint John and Madawaska River basins. Some Americans then settled in the Aroostook River
Aroostook River
The Aroostook River is a tributary of the Saint John River in the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Its basin is the largest sub-drainage of the St. John River....

 Valley. During 1826-1830, provincial timber interests also settled the west bank of the Saint John river and its tributaries, and British families built homes in Woodstock
Woodstock, New Brunswick
Woodstock is a Canadian town in Carleton County, New Brunswick located on the west bank of the Saint John River at the mouth of the Meduxnekeag River, 92 km west of Fredericton and close to the Canada – United States border and Houlton, Maine.- History :Woodstock was settled by Loyalists...

, Tobique, and Grand Falls, New Brunswick
Grand Falls, New Brunswick
Grand Falls is a Canadian town located in Victoria County, New Brunswick.Situated on the Saint John River, the town derives its name from a waterfall created by a series of rock ledges over which the river drops 23 metres.-Geography:Grand Falls is located in the valley of the St...

.

The French-speaking population of Madawaska were "Brayon
Brayon
Brayons are a francophone people inhabiting the area in and around Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada. In French, they are called or feminine , and both terms are also used as adjectives, as in Brayon culture, or .) Given their location in New Brunswick, a Canadian Maritime province, they are...

s" — nominally British subjects — who (at least rhetorically) considered themselves to belong to the unofficial "République du Madawaska
Republic of Madawaska
The Republic of Madawaska was a small, unrecognized state in the northwest corner of Madawaska County, New Brunswick and adjacent areas of Aroostook County in the American state of Maine and of Quebec. The word "Madawaska" comes from the Mi'kmaq words madawas and kak...

", and thus professed allegiance to neither Americans nor British. The population of the area swelled with outsiders, however, when winter freed lumbermen from farm work to "long-pole" up the Saint John River to the valley. These migrant seasonal lumbermen caused particular tension for the governments of Maine and Massachusetts, responsible for the protection of resources and revenues of their respective states. Some itinerant lumbermen eventually settled year-round in the Saint John valley. Most settlers found themselves too remote from the authorities to apply formally for land. Disputes heated as factions maneuvered for control over the best stands of trees.

John Baker
John Baker (Baker Brook)
John Baker is the namesake of the towns of Baker Lake and Baker Brook, New Brunswick, Canada, just west of Edmundston...

 on 4 July 1827 raised an American flag, which his wife made, on the western side of the junction of Baker Brook and the Saint John River. British Colonial authorities subsequently arrested Baker, fined him £25, and held him in jail until he paid his fine.

Crisis of 1830

In preparation for a United States census in 1830, the Maine Legislature
Maine Legislature
The Maine Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. It is a bicameral body composed of the lower house Maine House of Representatives and the upper house Maine Senate...

 sent John Deane and Edward James to northern Maine (alternatively northwestern New Brunswick) to document the numbers of inhabitants and to assess the extent of British trespass (from their point of view). During that summer, several residents of the west bank of the Saint John at Madawaska filed requests for incorporation into Maine. Acting on advice from Penobscot County, Maine
Penobscot County, Maine
Penobscot County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. For U.S. Census statistical purposes, it is part of the Bangor, Maine, New England County Metropolitan Area . As of 2010, the population was 153,923...

, officials, they called a meeting to select representatives preparatory to incorporating Madawaska as a town. A local resident from the east bank of the Saint John river alerted local representatives of the New Brunswick militia, who during these meetings, entered the hall and threatened to arrest any resident attempting to organize. The meetings continued, however, while more militiamen arrived, New Brunswick authorities arrested some residents, some residents fled to the woods, and local Americans sent letters to the Maine authorities in Augusta. They also sent letters to the United States Government in Washington, DC. United States Secretary of State contacted the British Minister. The Acadian majority professed ambivalence about joining either the United States or New Brunswick, but identified more with French-speaking Quebec and its territorial claims in Madawaska.

Someone asked King William I of the Netherlands
William I of the Netherlands
William I Frederick, born Willem Frederik Prins van Oranje-Nassau , was a Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg....

 to arbitrate the border dispute in 1830. William I determined to compromise between the two listed options, and drew a line very close to the eventual settlement. The British accepted the decision of the king of the Netherlands. The state of Maine rejected it, believing that the decision of King William violated the parameters of his authority, of choosing one contested boundary or the other, and established a potentially dangerous practice of foreign influences within the policies of the United States government. The proposal also surrendered territory that United States citizens and residents of Maine and Massachusetts already lotted, sold, and settled. Maine and Massachusetts still intended to continue their jurisdiction over territory held since 1800.

President Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

 inclined to accept the new line to avoid diversion from his policies and programs of control of native populations in the south and west, particularly in regard to activities involving the growing conflicts in what would become the Republic of Texas. The United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...

 forbade the federal government from altering state ownership of properties without the consent of the state government, which Maine and Massachusetts did not grant. Senator Peleg Sprague of Maine outspokenly opposed Indian removal
Indian Removal
Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...

 program of President Jackson and his interference in the internal government of Mexico; he led the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 to force a compromise and to reject the decision of the Dutch king.

In the absence of a final ruling, Great Britain and the United States agreed to a provisional settlement in 1831/1832, stating that territory already in the exclusive jurisdiction and authority of the respective state and provincial authorities would remain as such, and that neither would attempt to extend jurisdictional authority over areas still in dispute.

Posses, arrests, and the mobilization of militia

As a consequence of the closing of the Second Bank of the United States
Second Bank of the United States
The Second Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816, five years after the First Bank of the United States lost its own charter. The Second Bank of the United States was initially headquartered in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, the same as the First Bank, and had branches throughout the...

, the State of Maine in 1837 decided to issue a refund to all its residents who paid taxes. The state created a special census to determine eligible recipients. Penobscot County Census Representative Greeley thus began a census of the upper Aroostook River territory. Word of an official from Maine offering money to settlers quickly reached New Brunswick colonial-provincial authorities. The newly appointed Sir John Harvey (governor)
John Harvey (governor)
Lieutenant-General Sir John Harvey, KCB KCH was a British Army officer and a Lieutenant Governor.He was commissioned into the 80th Foot in 1794 and served in several different locations, including France, Egypt, and India...

 of New Brunswick led authorities to arrest Census Representative Greeley and take him to Fredericton. Letters from New Brunswick accused the Governor of Maine of bribery and threatened military action if Maine continued to exercise jurisdiction in the basins of the Aroostook river and its tributaries. In response, Governor Robert Dunlap of Maine issued a general order announcing that a foreign power had invaded Maine.http://books.google.com/books?id=teABAAAAMAAJ&dq=aroostook+war&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=rD5Xh0wlZg&sig=Lrwp4ytPwaJWUCmhAy6UY8ADSK0

Both American and New Brunswick lumbermen cut timber in the disputed territory during the winter of 1838/1839, according to reports submitted to the Maine Legislature
Maine Legislature
The Maine Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. It is a bicameral body composed of the lower house Maine House of Representatives and the upper house Maine Senate...

, resulting in the Battle of Caribou
Battle of Caribou
The Battle of Caribou was a minor and ultimately bloodless skirmish between U.S. and British armed lumberjacks during the Aroostook War...

 and other conflicts. On 24 January 1839, the Maine Legislature authorized the newly elected Governor John Fairfield
John Fairfield
John Fairfield was a U.S. politician from Maine.He was born in Saco, Maine and attended the Saco schools, Thornton Academy and Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. He then engaged in trade and studied law, being admitted to the bar in 1826, and practiced successfully in his native town and in...

 to send the Maine State Land Agent, Rufus McIntire
Rufus McIntire
Rufus McIntire was a United States lawyer, captain of artillery in the War of 1812, congressman, land surveyor and prisoner of war.-Early life:...

, the Penobscot County Sheriff, and a posse of volunteer militia to the upper Aroostook to pursue and arrest the New Brunswickers. The posse left Bangor, Maine
Bangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...

, on 8 February 1839. Arriving at T 10 R 5, the posse established a camp at the junction of the Saint Croix and Aroostook Rivers and began confiscating New Brunswick lumbering equipment, and sending any lumbermen caught and arrested back to Maine for trial. A group of New Brunswick lumbermen learned of these activities and, unable to retrieve their oxen and horses, broke into the arsenal in Woodstock to arm themselves. They gathered their own posse, and seized the Maine Land Agent and his assistants in the middle of the night. This New Brunswick posse transported the Maine officials in chains to Woodstock and held them for an "interview".

Terming the Americans "political prisoners," Sir John Harvey sent correspondence to Washington, DC, that he lacked the authority to act on the arrests without instructions from London, which he awaited. He added that he intended meanwhile to exercise his responsibilities to ensure British jurisdiction over the Aroostook, and he demanded removal from the region of all Maine forces. He then sent his military commander to the T 10 R 5 campsite and ordered the Maine militia to leave. Captain Rines and the others refused, stating they were following orders and doing their duty. The Maine side then took the New Brunswick Military commander himself into custody.

On 15 February 1839, the Maine Legislature authorized Major General Isaac Hodsdon to lead 1,000 additional volunteers to augment the posse then on the upper Aroostook River. Additional correspondence from governor Sir John Harvey of New Brunswick, reports of British bringing up their Regular Army troops from the West Indies, reports of the Mohawk nation
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...

 offering their services to Quebec, and reports of New Brunswick forces gathering on the Saint John River resulted in the Issuance of General Order No 7 on 19 February 1839, calling for a general draft of Maine Militia. Maine militia companies mustered in Bangor and traveled to the Upper Aroostook until 26 February 1839, when the early construction of Fort Fairfield, which the earlier posse built on the Aroostook River
Aroostook River
The Aroostook River is a tributary of the Saint John River in the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Its basin is the largest sub-drainage of the St. John River....

 from seized stolen timber, allowed for camping troops on the eastern boundary.

The American and British governments step in

During Congressional debates in Washington on 2 March 1839, Representative Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith
Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith
Francis Ormond Jonathan Smith was elected from the state of Maine to the United States House of Representatives to serve three terms from 1833 to 1839, serving at one point on the US House of Representatives Committee on Commerce.Smith was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New...

 of Maine outlined the events and the various communications sent and received since 1825. Representative Smith noted the primary responsibility of the federal government to protect and defend its own territory and citizens but declared that Maine would defend its territory alone if the government chose to not fulfill its obligations. President Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....

 assigned Brigadier General Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....

, then involved in the Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

 relocation, to the conflict area; he arrived in Boston in early March 1839.

Additional information arriving in Washington through April and May 1839 kept Congressional debate lively until Congress authorized a force of 50,000 men and appropriated $10 million, placed at the disposal of the President in the event foreign military troops crossed into United States territory during the Congressional recess of summer 1839. Maine initially committed three thousand to ten thousand militia to the conflict in addition to the posses of land agent.

Sir John Harvey had supervised Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott during his time as prisoner of war during the War of 1812, and the President and his advisers saw that relationship as a point of mutual respect. Pursuant to the terms of the truce for administration within the disputed area, the Maine Legislature on 6 April 1839 created an armed civil posse. On advice of Brigadier General Scott, Maine issued General Orders to recall the militia in May and June 1839 and to replace the militiamen with the armed civil posse. The office of Maine state land agent led the armed civil posse with Deputy Land Agent William Parrott at Fort Fairfield and Captain Stover Rines at Camp Jarvis on the Fish River (later Fort Kent, Maine
Fort Kent, Maine
Fort Kent is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,097 in the 2010 census. Fort Kent is home to an Olympic biathlete training center, an annual CAN-AM dogsled race, and the Fort Kent Blockhouse, built in reaction to the Aroostook War and in modern times designated...

). The Army began the permanent structure of Fort Fairfield in April 1839 and that of Fort Kent in October 1839. Major R. M. Kirby commanded of Hancock Barracks
Hancock Barracks
Hancock Barracks was a 19th century fortification near Houlton, Maine.-Origin:Controversy surrounded the boundary between Massachusetts and New Brunswick after Treaty of Paris ended American Revolutionary War. British invaded coastal Maine during the War of 1812, but the treaty ending that war...

 post near Houlton, Maine
Houlton, Maine
Houlton is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, on the United States – Canada border, located at . As of the 2010 census, the town population was 6,123. It is perhaps best known as being at the northern terminus of Interstate 95 and for being the birthplace of Samantha Smith...

, with three companies of the United States 1st Artillery Regiment. Four companies of the British 11th Regiment marched to the area from Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

 to represent Canada with the intent to build a suitable barracks across the Saint Johns River from Fort Kent. New Brunswick meanwhile armed every tributary of the Saint John River that flowed from the Aroostook Territory with regular and militia soldiers.

In 1840, Maine created Aroostook County, Maine
Aroostook County, Maine
Aroostook County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. In 2010, its population was 71,870. In land area, it is the largest county in the state and the largest U.S. county east of the Mississippi River. Its seat is Houlton...

, to administer the civilian authority of the area. However, reports of collusion resulted in the Maine Executive Council assigning Alphus Lyons to investigate Sheriff Packard and District Attorney Tabor. The United States and Britain agreed to refer the dispute to a boundary commission, but further clashes between their forces continued in the interim.

Settlement

Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...

 and Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton
Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton
Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton PC was a British politician and financier.-Background:Baring was the second son of Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, and of Harriet, daughter of William Herring...

, reached a compromise the Webster-Ashburton Treaty
Webster-Ashburton Treaty
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9, 1842, was a treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies...

 of Washington in 1842, which settled the Maine-Canada boundary and the boundary between Canada and New Hampshire, Michigan and Minnesota. This treaty awarded 7,015 square miles (18,170 km²) to the United States and 5,012 square miles (12,980 km²) to Great Britain. The British retained the northern area of the disputed territory, including the Halifax Road
Halifax Road
The Halifax Road or Grand Communication Route was used by the British as an overland communication link between the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Lower Canada , and Upper Canada in the winter months when the St. Lawrence River was frozen.It was used as a mail route as well as a...

 with its year-round overland military communications between Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 and Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

. The U.S. federal government agreed to pay the states of Maine and Massachusetts $150,000 each for the loss of the lands of their states while the United States reimbursed them for newly acquired territory in the Northwest Territories and for expenses incurred during the time Maine's armed civil posse administered the truce period.

Webster used a map that Jared Sparks
Jared Sparks
Jared Sparks was an American historian, educator, and Unitarian minister. He served as President of Harvard University from 1849 to 1853.-Biography:...

, an American citizen, found in the Paris Archives (and which Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...

 supposedly marked with a red line in Paris in 1782) to persuade Maine and Massachusetts to accept the agreement. The map showed that the disputed region belonged to the British and so helped convince the representatives of those states to accept the compromise, lest the truth reach British ears and convince the British to refuse. Later historians discovered that the Americans hid their knowledge of the Franklin map. Britain apparently used a map supposedly favorable to the United States claims but never revealed this map. Some claim that Britain created the Franklin map as a fake to pressure the American negotiators. The evidence is that the British map placed the entire disputed area on the American side of the border.

Only the original Brayon
Brayon
Brayons are a francophone people inhabiting the area in and around Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada. In French, they are called or feminine , and both terms are also used as adjectives, as in Brayon culture, or .) Given their location in New Brunswick, a Canadian Maritime province, they are...

 (and Native
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

) inhabitants of the region ultimately lost; they saw their territory reap the advantages of occupying land in both the American state of Maine and the British colony of New Brunswick.

The Aroostook War, though devoid of actual military combat, did not lack casualties. Private Hiram T. Smith
Hiram T. Smith
Private Hiram T. Smith is a legendary casualty of the bloodless Maine Aroostook War, having died in 1839. Although one of roughly 38 men killed , he is the most famous because many locals consider him the only casualty of the war. A memorial placed in the middle of the Haynesville Woods along U.S....

 from Maine died of unknown causes while in service in 1828. He is buried in Maine on the side of the Military Road (U.S. Route 2
U.S. Route 2
U.S. Route 2 is an east–west U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada...

) in the middle of the Haynesville Woods. Other Maine militiamen died of illness or injury while on the Aroostook expedition and dozens went unaccounted, leaving their camps to go on patrol and never returning.

See also

  • Caroline Affair
    Caroline affair
    The Caroline affair was a series of events beginning in 1837 that strained relations between the United States and Britain....

  • Republic of Indian Stream
    Republic of Indian Stream
    The Republic of Indian Stream was a small, unrecognized, constitutional republic in North America, along the section of the US–Canada border that divides the Canadian province of Quebec from the US state of New Hampshire. It existed from July 9, 1832 to 1835...

  • Republic of Madawaska
    Republic of Madawaska
    The Republic of Madawaska was a small, unrecognized state in the northwest corner of Madawaska County, New Brunswick and adjacent areas of Aroostook County in the American state of Maine and of Quebec. The word "Madawaska" comes from the Mi'kmaq words madawas and kak...

  • List of conflicts in Canada

Further reading

  • Carroll, Francis M. "Drawing the Line" Beaver 2003 83(4): 19-25
  • Carroll, Francis M. "The Passionate Canadians: The Historical Debate about the Eastern Canadian-American Boundary," New England Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 1 (Mar., 1997), pp. 83–101 in JSTOR
  • Jones. Howard. "Anglophobia and the Aroostook War," New England Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Dec., 1975), pp. 519–539 in JSTOR
  • Jones. Howard. To the Webster-Ashburton Treaty: A Study in Anglo-American Relations, 1783-1843 (1977). 251 pp.
  • Jones, Wilbur Devereux. "The Influence of Slavery on the Webster-Ashburton Negotiations," Journal of Southern History, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Feb., 1956), pp. 48–58 in JSTOR
  • LeDuc, Thomas. "The Webster-Ashburton Treaty and the Minnesota Iron Ranges," Journal of American History, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Dec., 1964), pp. 476–481 in JSTOR, shows the value of the iron range was not known when the treaty was drawn
  • Merk, Frederick. "The Oregon Question in the Webster-Ashburton Negotiations," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Dec., 1956), pp. 379–404 in JSTOR
  • Remini, Robert. Daniel Webster (1997) 535-64



External links

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