Changes to Social Interaction in Maine
Changes to how people interact socially were desperately needed in Maine. By 1820, the New England religious movement had expanded with new reforms intended to create a community with an upright social structure. Protestants who strongly believed in transforming society into a desirable place kept spreading the positive word about having a morally upright society in spite of the harsh Puritan views. Despite the fact that the Maine people had a lot of resources which generated a lot of revenue for them, the whole society was full of alcoholics. The people of Maine highly valued alcohol which drained their economic power. The issue of alcohol abuse was even common among children in Maine. As a result of this wanting habit, the protestants led by one woman from Maine by the name Dorothea Dix took the initiative of leading a movement that would help to eradicate the pressing problem in the society (Judd et al., 1995).
The Movement's Objectives
Besides alcoholism, the movement also aimed at abolishing the slave trade, the suffrage of women as well as the helping of the unfortunate in the society. All the reforms were being pushed for the betterment of the Maine society. Despite the efforts made by the movement, the issue of alcoholism in the society still proved to be hard to deal with in that time. It took other measures such as the Maine Law of 1851 which was aimed at reducing the level of alcoholism in Maine which was termed as the Napoleon of Temperance. The step taken used legislative measures to help curb the issue of alcohol abuse in the society. Instead of preaching moderation of taking alcohol, the legislative measures sought to clear off the issue of alcohol from the face of the society. As a result, Maine became the first "dry" state where alcohol drinkers were viewed as dealers of rum (Judd et al., 1995).
The Aroostook War
The Aroostook war came as a result of the boundary dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom. Due to its vast resources such as timber which were useful to both the countries, none of them wanted to lose Maine. As the tensions of the boundary went on increasing, each country brought its troops although no fight took place. The Britain government was in great need of the timber that was produced in Maine so that they could use it for shipbuilding while the United States claimed that the land was theirs. During the drafting of the Treaty of Paris, the negotiators of the agreement left the work unfinished terming the area as undisputed territory (Judd et al., 1995).
Therefore, none of the two neighbors either Maine or New Brunswick knew where the boundary was supposed to be drawn. For the purpose of deterring the eruption of military war between the United States and Britain, a diplomatic meeting was convened where an agreement was drawn to end the boundary wrangles. Daniel Webster, the then United States secretary, and a British diplomat Baron Ashburton met and solved the dispute which saw the formulation of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 where the large part of the disputed territory was given to the people of Maine. Therefore, there was no military war that took place despite the presence of armed soldiers brought by both the countries. The diplomatic meeting played a vital role in solving the boundary issues thus clearing of the tensions between the United States of America and Britain (Judd et al., 1995).
Reference
Judd, R. W., Churchill, E. A., & Eastman, J. W. (1995). Maine: The Pine Tree State from prehistory to the present. Orono, Me: University of Maine Press
