Benjamin Lincoln’s A Description of the Situation, Climate, Soil and Productions of Certain Tracts of Land in the District of Maine, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts. [Philadelphia, circa 1793].
![Benjamin Lincoln’s A Description of the Situation, Climate, Soil and Productions of Certain Tracts of Land in the District of Maine, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts. [Philadelphia, circa 1793].](https://sca.bowdoin.edu/state-of-maine/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/nggallery/state-of-maine/climate-maine.jpg "Benjamin Lincoln’s A Description of the Situation, Climate, Soil and Productions of Certain Tracts of Land in the District of Maine, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts. [Philadelphia, circa 1793].")
This study of conditions in Maine is based on a series of questions addressed to and answered by Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810) of Hingham, Massachusetts, a Major General in the Continental Army during the Revolution and a politician for whom Lincolnville, Maine is named. Lincoln’s work was evidently published to encourage increased trade between New England ports and the West Indies. The climate of Maine in the pre-separation era was typically more severe than now. The statewide average climate was 3.2 degrees colder and growing seasons were two to three weeks shorter. In 1815, a volcano eruption in Indonesia upset the atmosphere globally, and resulted in what has become known as the “Year without Summer” in 1816. This led to a drastic change in weather patterns resulting in crop failures that convinced many Maine farmers to head west to Ohio. This shift in demographics is thought by some to have contributed to statehood—by then, shipping merchants preferred independence while farmers supported remaining a part of Massachusetts. The mass exodus of the latter helped to tip the scales in favor of statehood when the issue came up for vote in 1819.