In 1837, President Martin Van Buren urged Congress to take action to protect the borders of Maine "in whose solicitude concerning a subject in which she has so deep an interest every portion of the Union participates". To understand the impact of that last line requires a little context. Why did the people of Maine care so deeply whether every portion of the Union participates? The answer was more obvious in 1837 than it is today.
First, let me explain more about the border protection that Maine was in need of. For many years after the War of 1812, the border between British Canada and Northeastern United States remained in dispute, specifically the Maine-New Brunswick border. In 1827, the conflict rose to a boiling point in the Madawaska territory when an American businessman, John Barker hoisted an American flag on the land and was arrested by the New Brunswick authorities. After four years of arbitration, then President Andrew Jackson was able to obtain the release of John Barker, but the territorial disputes remained. In 1836 another U.S. citizen was arrested by New Brunswick, this time while executing census duty on behalf of the state of Maine. Ebenezer Greely was employed by Maine to take down names and number of each family in the Madawaska settlement and informing them that they would receive from the State of Maine an amount of money not to exceed $3 for each head of the family. The monies were to come out of the surplus revenue of the United States.
Following this arrest, the governor of Maine, Robert Dunlap sent letters to the Secretary of State, John Forsyth and President Martin Van Buren requesting that the administration intervene and guarantee the release of Mr. Greely. The governor of New Brunswick denied that they were holding Mr. Greely against his own will, suggesting that he only had to stop the census taking to be released, but this was refused. The arrest itself was egregious, but the real insult was to the sovereignty of Maine in that territory. Dunlap's initial letters to the Secretary of State were not received to his satisfaction. The Secretary requested additional documentation and suggested that the outrage was not "not sufficient, in the view of the President, to warrant the interference of the Government at present". This did not sit well with the governor of Maine, who then wrote directly to President Van Buren about the northeastern boundary of Maine. Dunlap reminded the administration that by "federal compact", the national government is obligated to defend the borders from foreign invasion and protecting it all the way up to its "extreme line of boundary". The citizens of Maine were demanding justice.
"Permit me respectfully to inform the President that in the opinion of the people of Maine the justice due to this State in this respect has not been rendered."
In the same letter, Governor Dunlap reminded President Van Buren of this.
"It can not be deemed irrelevant for me here to ask, amid all these various impositions, and while Maine has been vigorously employed in sustaining the Union and in training her children to the same high standard of devotion to the political institutions of the country, what relief has been brought to us by the Federal Government."
Just what did Mr. Dunlap mean by "Maine has been vigorously employed in sustaining the Union"? For that answer, we need to go back just 17 years to when Maine was admitted as a free state during the Missouri compromise. The compromise separated Maine from Massachusetts as a new free state while Missouri was added as a slave state. It was a compromise that many Northerners opposed to on moral grounds but was done to keep the United States from breaking apart under the burden of slavery. This was the context of the day. It was not just some generalized notion of patriotism on behalf of Maine, it was a reminder of what Maine had done and a reminder that the federal government was to live up to their promises. How could the federal government now turn their back on Maine after the way Maine was used to preserve the union? The governor of Maine finished with this line.
"What, then, has the Federal Government done for this State? May it not be said, in the language of another, 'Maine has not been treated as she endeavored to deserve'?"
I don't know whom the governor was quoting, but the letter did seem to get the President's attention. Along with the fact that the British had started plans to build a railroad from St. Andrews to Quebec through the territory that was currently in dispute by the two nations. The treaty of 1783 signed by the two nations requested that a border line be established and monuments to be erected, but that line did not follow natural boundaries and were now in great dispute. Now, Van Buren was convinced that the only answer was to "to terminate satisfactorily this dispute by proposing the substitution of a conventional line". In other words, the border should follow the natural borders like the St. John River effectively splitting up territories like the Madawaska settlement forever.
Here are President Martin Van Buren's words on the matter from his first State of the Union Address
"Of pending questions the most important is that which exists with the Government of Great Britain in respect to our northeastern boundary. It is with unfeigned regret that the people of the United States must look back upon the abortive efforts made by the Executive, for a period of more than half a century, to determine what no nation should suffer long to remain in dispute--the true line which divides its possessions from those of other powers. The nature of the settlements on the borders of the United States and of the neighboring territory was for a season such that this, perhaps, was not indispensable to a faithful performance of the duties of the Federal Government. Time has, however, changed this state of things, and has brought about a condition of affairs in which the true interests of both countries imperatively require that this question should be put at rest. It is not to be disguised that, with full confidence, often expressed, in the desire of the British Government to terminate it, we are apparently as far from its adjustment as we were at the time of signing the treaty of peace in 1783. The sole result of long-pending negotiations and a perplexing arbitration appears to be a conviction on its part that a conventional line must be adopted, from the impossibility of ascertaining the true one according to the description contained in that treaty. Without coinciding in this opinion, which is not thought to be well rounded, my predecessor gave the strongest proof of the earnest desire of the United States to terminate satisfactorily this dispute by proposing the substitution of a conventional line if the consent of the States interested in the question could be obtained. To this proposition no answer has as yet been received. The attention of the British Government has, however, been urgently invited to the subject, and its reply can not, I am confident, be much longer delayed. The general relations between Great Britain and the United States are of the most friendly character, and I am well satisfied of the sincere disposition of that Government to maintain them upon their present footing. This disposition has also, I am persuaded, become more general with the people of England than at any previous period. It is scarcely necessary to say to you how cordially it is reciprocated by the Government and people of the United States. The conviction, which must be common to all, of the injurious consequences that result from keeping open this irritating question, and the certainty that its final settlement can not be much longer deferred, will, I trust, lead to an early and satisfactory adjustment. At your last session I laid before you the recent communications between the two Governments and between this Government and that of the State of Maine, in whose solicitude concerning a subject in which she has so deep an interest every portion of the Union participates."
Unfortunately, the boundary lines would not fully be established until 1842 with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty and after the conclusion of the Aroostook War.
In 1838, Van Buren reported to Congress that little had changed since 1837.
"With respect to the northeastern boundary of the United States, no official correspondence between this Government and that of Great Britain has passed since that communicated to Congress toward the close of their last session. The offer to negotiate a convention for the appointment of a joint commission of survey and exploration I am, however, assured will be met by Her Majesty's Government in a conciliatory and friendly spirit, and instructions to enable the British minister here to conclude such an arrangement will be transmitted to him without needless delay. It is hoped and expected that these instructions will be of a liberal character, and that this negotiation, if successful, will prove to be an important step toward the satisfactory and final adjustment of the controversy."
References
“First Annual Message.” First Annual Message | The American Presidency Project, 5 Dec. 1837, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/first-annual-message-4.
“Second Annual Message.” Second Annual Message | The American Presidency Project, 3 Dec. 1838, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/second-annual-message-4
“State of Maine - Resolves Relative to the Northeastern Boundary.” State of Maine - Resolves Relative to the Northeastern Boundary | The American Presidency Project, 27 June 1837, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/state-maine-resolves-relative-the-northeastern-boundary.
photo of Madawaska sign, courtesy of https://maineanencyclopedia.com/madawaska/
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