HISTORY. Maine attracted the interest of ex plorers early in the sixteenth century. Giovanni rla Verrazano sailed down the coast in 1524, Estevan COMPZ followed him in 1525, and before the middle of the sixteenth century more than one navigator had sailed up the Penobscot River in search of splendid Norumbega (q.v.). with its columns of crystal and silver. In 1580 John Walker, sailing in the employ of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, led an expedition to Maine. Ind with no results. The voyages of Gosnold (1602), Pring (1603), and Weymouth (1605) were fol lowed by that of John Smith (1614), who left an account of the country in his Description of Yew England. In 1604 a French expedition under De Monts (q.v.) planted upon Neutral Island, in the Saint Croix River, a colony which was abandoned in the following year. Maine fell within the limits of the grant made to the Plymouth Company by James 1. in 1606, and in the following year an English expedition sent out by Sir John Popham and Sir Ferdinand° Gorges effected a settlement at Sabino Point, at the mouth of the Sagadahoc or Kennebec River. In 1608 the settlement was abandoned and most of the colonists returned to England. French Jesuits landed on Mount Desert as early as 1608, and in 1613 they were joined by a ber of fishermen; but Captain Argall (q.v.) broke up the colony within a short time. In 1622 Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason received from the Council for New England a grant of the territory between the Merrimac and the Kennebec rivers extending for sixty miles in land. The proprietors divided their possessions, the former taking the land east of the Pisca taqua River. A colony of fishermen settled on Monhegan Island in 1623, but disappeared three years later. The first permanent settlement in Maine was made at Pemaquid in 1625-26: Agamenticum (York) was founded about the same time, and after 1630 Saco, Biddeford, Port Elizabeth, Portland, and Scarborough sprang up in rapid succession. In 1639 Gorges received a large accession of territory and was confirmed in his old possessions with the title of Lord Palatine, and established a provincial government at York. Before this time the Connell for New England had issued many patents covering lands already granted to Gorges, and in the disputes that followed Massachusetts was called in as arbitrator. Taking advantage of the civil war that was then raging in England, the Massachu setts Government proceeded to bring Maine under its own authority. Tn 1652 it annexed all the towns as far east as Casco, basing its right on its charter, which granted it all lands three miles north of the source of the Merrimac. By 1660 all Maine west of the Penobscot was reduced, and it was retained in spite of royal orders from Charles II. and a grant made in 1664 to the Duke of York of all the territory between Pcma quid and the Saint Croix. In 1677 the claims of the Gorges heirs were bought by Massachusetts, and by the charter of 1691 Massachusetts was con firmed in possession of the territory. East of the Penobscot the French held the land and as siduously stirred up the Indian tribes against the English. In 1675 an outbreak of the Taren tine tribe marked the beginning of a long strug gle in which most of the towns on the coast east of the Piseataqua were laid waste. The country suffered greatly, too, in the French and Indian wars. During King William's reign the inhabitants of Cocheco were massacred by the Penacook Indians. Pemaquid was taken, and the settlements east of Falmouth were abandoned.
From 1722 to 1725 the tribes of No7a Scotia and eastern Maine waged a fierce warfare against the colonists, and security was not really estab lished till the Treaty of Paris in 1763. During the Revolution Maine was active in the patriot cause. At the end of the war Massachusetts re tained possession of the territory, exercising ju risdiction over it as the 'District of Maine.' Dis putes with the mother State were frequent, and between 1783 and 1791 steps toward independ ence were taken. The tendency toward separa tion was hastened by the fact that the inhabitants of Maine were Democratic in their political sym pathies and tolerated with difficulty the rule of Federalist Massachusetts. In the War of 1812 Maine was left ill defended by Massachusetts, and its territory east of the Penobscot was occu pied by the British. After the war the separatist movement grew rapidly. Probably, however, the desire for separation from Massachusetts would not have been so quickly realized if the struggle over the admission of Missouri into the Union had not brought about the necessity of admitting a Northern State to preserve the balance of power. On March 15, 1820, Maine be came a State. Industry and commerce received a great impetus after the War of 1812, but throughout the nineteenth century the increase in wealth and population was rather steady than swift. The dispute with England concerning the northeastern boundary of the State was the cause of constant quarrels between the inhabitants of Maine and New Brunswick. The officials sent out by both to take possession of the disputed lands on the Saint Croix River came into collision and hostilities went prevented only by the negotia tion of the Ashburton Treaty (q.v.) in 1842. The only important subject of legislation in the State of other than local interest has been that of prohibition. After some tentative lawmaking, a stringent prohibitory law, passed in 1858. was incorporated into the Constitution, and has re mained in force ever since. Many minor legu ]ations looking toward the effectual execution of the prohibitory law have been passed at frequent intervals, but prohibition on the whole has not turned out entirely successful, and eva sions of the law are frequent. Before 1856 Maine was generally Democratic in State elections, and only once (1840) voted against the Demo cratic candidate in Presidential elections. Since 1856 it has been emphatically Republican except in the years 1878 and 1880. when the Democrats and Greenback Party in fusion succeeded in elect ing their candidate for Governor. The Governor chosen in 1878 was Alonzo GarceIon. In 1879 an election for members of the Legislature took place, and Governor desirous of gaining the Legislature for the fusion party, seized every opportunity afforded by the irregular but time honored way in which elections were conducted to refuse certificates to Republican candidates and seat Democrats in their place: a Demo cratic majority was thus secured, and the Legis lature was organized. The Republicans organ ized a rival body and proceeded to elect a Gov ernor. since no candidate had received a majority at the polls. Peace was preserved by the militia until a decision of the Supreme Court established the legality of the Republican Legislature. In 1891 the Australian ballot law was passed. The Constitution of Maine was adopted on October 29. 1819, and is still in force, having been amended between 1S41 and 1881.
The following have been the Governors of the State since its admission into the Union: