State of Maine

The first edition of the Constitution formally published by the State of Maine—two prior editions, seen elsewhere in the exhibit, were printed in 1819, prior to statehood. This edition includes a printing of the Massachusetts act of separation consenting to the District of Maine’s forming a separate, independent state government. Two hundred copies were printed ‘for the use of the Legislature’ by order of the House of Representatives. This copy was owned by Barrett Potter, who served as a Maine senator from 1820 to 1821 and as Bowdoin College Overseer from 1820 to 1825. Of the ten articles outlined in the constitution, Article VIII (Literature) communicated Maine’s dedication to education. The legislature was directed to make certain that the towns provided, at their own expense, for the support and maintenance of the public schools, while the state was required to encourage and endow academies, colleges, and seminaries of learning. Additionally, Article VIII gave the legislature authority to regulate any college to which the state provided finding in any form. The measure was particularly directed at Bowdoin College, a bastion of conservative Federalism and Congregationalism which had opposed statehood.