\nIt is hard to realize that a young person must be more than 20 years old to\u00a0have any recollection at all of the great depression of the early 1930’s. But\u00a0those of us who are 0 I der remember those gri m days very we II. We can perhaps\u00a0understand what Maine people experienced 150 years ago as a result of the Embargo\u00a0Act.<\/p>\n
As trouble with Great Britain increased during the year 1807 — trouble\u00a0that was eventua II y to lead to the War of 1812 — Presi dent Jefferson persuaded\u00a0Congress to pass the Embargo Act. I t vi rtua I Iy out I awed a II seaborne comrrerce\u00a0wiTh foreign nations. It forbade all U. S. ships to leave for any foreign port.\u00a0Our shi ps engaged in coastwi se trade were requi red to post bonds doub Ie the\u00a0va I ue of thei r cargoes as a guarantee that the goods would be landed at a U. S.\u00a0port.<\/p>\n
The result was that all along the coast of Maine: as well as on the whole\u00a0Atlantic seaboard, smuggling became looked upon as a respectable activity. Briti\u00a0sh merchants cooperated with American merchants who violated the law. All\u00a0th rough a peri od of eight years, unti I the second war wi th Bri tai n ended in\u00a01815, the Mai ne communities suffered great hardships. Poverty and unemp loyment\u00a0pressed heavi Iy upon most of the settlements. Along the coast the seamen and\u00a0fishermen were obliged to turn to other pursuits. There was no longer a market\u00a0for I umber, so farmers began to c lear the i r waste I ands and extend the i r fie Ids\u00a0and pastures. Many sold or just abandoned their mortgaged farms. Others searched\u00a0for wea Ith beneath the soi I . I n short, wi th the resource fu I ness that has \u00a0always been a prime characteristic of Maine folk, our people adjusted their\u00a0lives to the depressi ng ti me.<\/p>\n
One result was beginning of interest in minerals and metals in Maine. That\u00a0no one ever uncovered a Comstock lode or a Sutter’s Mi II find in this state is\u00a0not because Maine men did not try. In 1810 a man named Brown Simpson made some \u00a0explorations along Muscongus Bay. He purchased the right to dig for ore on a\u00a0large number of lots. Simpson proceeded to organize a corporation called the\u00a0Thomaston Coal and Mineral Company. The company struggled along unti I 1820,\u00a0when even Si mpson hi mse I f became di scouraged. I t never di d any profi tab Ie mi njng\u00a0of minerals, although Simpson always claimed that his explorations showed\u00a0favorable indications of coal.<\/p>\n
The po i nt I want to make is that, in the blackest years that ever hit Ma i ne\u00a0business and agriculture, the years 1807 to 1815, Maine folk somahow struggled\u00a0through. They kept on supporti ng school s and churches. Duri ng the hardest\u00a0times they actually enlarged their farms so that the grain crop of 1814 was The\u00a0largest Mai ne had ever reaped. With better times, especi ally after the di sastrous\u00a0year of no summar in 1816, peop Ie gradua Ily forgot the awful years of the\u00a0Embargo and The War.<\/p>\n
Some pretty good stories of Yankee wit and crafty ways have come down to us\u00a0from early Trading days in Maine. For instance, over in Readfield was a blacksmith\u00a0who went into the business of making warranted axes. When a neighbor complained\u00a0thaT they weren’t any better than ordinary axes, the blacksmith asked,\u00a0!tv\/ho said they was?H nyou did”, was the reply, t:you said you would warrant\u00a0them”. ~ TTAnd::_that- I wi II”, said the smith, 111 warrant them to be axes.”<\/p>\n
Another story is tol d about an 0 I d-ti me storekeeper in Li tchfi e I d. He had\u00a0served in the Revolutionary War and was called Major. One day his clerk told\u00a0him that, wh i Ie the Major was out to di nner, a fe II ow had come in and bought a\u00a0few articles on credit, but the clerk neglected to get his nama. HCharge them\u00a0to Bi II Barney”, sa i d the Major. HHe’ s cheated me so many ti mes, he owes me a\u00a0lot more than what That fe Iler bought.”<\/p>\n
One day the Major ye lied at his clerk, HS am , have you charged that rum?”<\/p>\n
”Haven’t drawn any, Major.” “Yes, you have, two ga lions. Charge it to 0 liver\u00a0Smi-th. U\u00a0On another occasion the Major sai d, IVSam , ai n ‘t that Matthew Ke Iler going\u00a0up the I ane?” “Yes,. sir. n “We II, charge hi m wi th a mug of f lip. ”<\/p>\n
If that is the way the Major did business, it is no wonder the neighbors\u00a0eventua Ily got wi se to him and drove hi m out of town. can assure you he was\u00a0not typical of the great majority of honest, di ligent merchants in Maine in the\u00a0early ni neteenth century.<\/p>\n
Did you know that an army execution once took place in Maine? It was in\u00a01780 when the Revolution was nearing its end. Command of what was called the\u00a0Easte rn Department,. between the Pi scataq ua and the St. Cro i x.: ( in othe r words,\u00a0a I I of Ma i ne)’, was entrusted to Gene ra I Wadsworth. He arri ved at Fa I mouth, (now\u00a0Portland) on Apri I 6 and set about almost immediately raising troops for his\u00a0command. The fo II owi ng week he came to the town of St. George, where he set up\u00a0headquarters. He issued orders stri ctl y forbi ddi ng a II tradi ng wi th the enemy.<\/p>\n
When ill icit trading continued, Wadsworth wrathfully decreed that any person\u00a0caught at it would suffer the death penalty. A man named Jeremiah Brown of Damariscotta\u00a0was charged with pi loting a British patrol through the back country\u00a0so that they could pi I I age the outlying set~lements. Since Wadsworth had the\u00a0whole region under martial law, Brown was tried by court martial, condemned and\u00a0sentenced to be hanged.<\/p>\n
All Brown’s neighbors knew him to be a man of feeble intellect and probably\u00a0not fully aware thaT he had done anything wrong. Folks therefore decided that\u00a0Brown’s sentence was only meant to frighten him and prevent a repetition of the\u00a0offense. Many patriotic citizens interceded with the General for the man’s pardon \u00a0— in fact they regarded such intercession as hardly necessary, for surely\u00a0the General did not intend to execute the poor fellow. To their amazement,\u00a0Wadsworth insisted that the man must be made an example. So, less than 48\u00a0hours after the end of the tri a I, Brown was hanged on ga’ lows erected on Li mestone\u00a0Hi I I in Thomaston. Many friends of the Revolution deplored this action;\u00a0and years afterward the 0 I d peop Ie who remembered the day condemned Gene ra I\u00a0Wadsworth as a hard and unreasonable man.<\/p>\n
Year: 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #356, Broadcast on November 24, 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[761,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7792"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}