Maine celebrates its bicentennial in 2020, but its history of human
habitation dates back some 12,000 years to the earliest Native Americans, who
are now part of the Wabanaki Confederacy.
During the Colonial period, Maine territory was disputed between
Massachusetts Bay Colony and French Acadia, who sought allies among and warred
against Native Americans. Following the Revolutionary War and ratification of
the U.S. Constitution, the District of Maine remained part of the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts.
Maine became an independent state on March 15, 1820. Portland, the state’s
largest city then and now, served as the capital until 1827 when the seat of
government moved to Augusta, a more geographically central location.
The picturesque rocky coastline of Maine has long inspired the
imagination of writers and artists. American painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
was among the many prominent artists who sought the tranquility of the state’s
coastal towns during the summer. His painting “Sea at Ogunquit” (1914) captures
the rugged beauty so characteristic of Maine and is being represented on the
stamp, which art director Derry Noyes designed.
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