Aroostook War - Crisis of 1830

Crisis of 1830

In preparation for a United States census in 1830, the Maine Legislature sent John Deane and Edward James to northern Maine (alternatively northwestern New Brunswick) to document the numbers of inhabitants and to assess the extent of British trespass (from their point of view). During that summer, several residents of the west bank of the Saint John at Madawaska filed requests for incorporation into Maine. Acting on advice from Penobscot County, Maine, officials, they called a meeting to select representatives preparatory to incorporating Madawaska as a town. A local resident from the east bank of the Saint John river alerted local representatives of the New Brunswick militia, who during these meetings, entered the hall and threatened to arrest any resident attempting to organize. The meetings continued, however, while more militiamen arrived, New Brunswick authorities arrested some residents, some residents fled to the woods, and local Americans sent letters to the Maine authorities in Augusta. They also sent letters to the United States Government in Washington, DC. United States Secretary of State contacted the British Minister. The Acadian majority professed ambivalence about joining either the United States or New Brunswick, but identified more with French-speaking Quebec and its territorial claims in Madawaska.

Cornelius P. VanNess of Vermont and Thomas Barclay of Britain asked King William I of the Netherlands to arbitrate the border dispute in 1830. William I determined to compromise between the two listed options, and drew a line very close to the eventual settlement. The British accepted the decision of the king of the Netherlands. The state of Maine rejected it, believing that the decision of King William violated the parameters of his authority, of choosing one contested boundary or the other, and established a potentially dangerous practice of foreign influences within the policies of the United States government. The proposal also surrendered territory that United States citizens and residents of Maine and Massachusetts already lotted, sold, and settled. Maine and Massachusetts still intended to continue their jurisdiction over territory held since 1800.

President Andrew Jackson inclined to accept the new line to avoid diversion from his policies and programs of control of native populations in the south and west, particularly in regard to activities involving the growing conflicts in what would become the Republic of Texas. The United States Constitution forbade the federal government from altering state ownership of properties without the consent of the state government, which Maine and Massachusetts did not grant. Senator Peleg Sprague of Maine outspokenly opposed Indian removal program of President Jackson and his interference in the internal government of Mexico; he led the United States Senate to force a compromise and to reject the decision of the Dutch king.

In the absence of a final ruling, the United Kingdom and the United States agreed to a provisional settlement in 1831/1832, stating that territory already in the exclusive jurisdiction and authority of the respective state and provincial authorities would remain as such, and that neither would attempt to extend jurisdictional authority over areas still in dispute.