NORTHEAST BOUNDARY DISPUTE. The precise boundary line between
Maine and New Brunswick remained a matter of often-heated argument
for years after the close of the Revolutionary War.
The dispute festered and smoldered until 1839, when it threatened
to erupt into open warfare. The Maine Legislature that year raised
funds to support a military force of 10,000 to protect the state's
border claims at Madawaska.
Several hundred British regulars were dispatched to the scene
from Quebec. At this point the U.S. Congress entered the picture,
approving $10 million for military expenses should war break out.
Nearly 50,000 troops were readied for action, and Major General
Winfield Scott was dispatched to the scene. Scott managed to work
out a temporary agreement between the two parties before the so-called
"War of the Aroostook" reached the point of bloodshed.
The Webster-Asburton Treaty, hammered out in 1842 by U.S. Secretary
of State Daniel Webster and English special minister Lord Asburton,
finally settled the question of where Maine's northeast boundary
lay.