Women's History Trail : Augusta Maine

Maine State Capitol

Across the street from the Blaine Mansion, the Maine State Capitol is situated. Augusta has been the seat of state government since 1832, when the Legislature met here for the first time. The majestic Maine State Capitol sits at the intersection of Capitol and State streets. Across State Street is the expensive Capitol Park.

The first session of the Maine State Legislature to be held in Augusta was in 1832, even though the city had been designated the capital of the state in 1827. Prior to 1832, the body met in Portland and other locations. Construction of the new State House, designed by Charles Bulfinch of Boston, was completed in 1832 with funds provided by Augusta citizens and on land (Weston Hill) purchased and given to the state by Augusta citizens. An early 20th century update to the Capitol saw the addition of the statute of a woman representing Wisdom as part of the new cupola.

Establishing the state government in Augusta was a contentious affair, with much rivalry between legislators from Portland and Augusta. Other sites were also considered in the original discussion of location, and efforts to move the seat of government to Portland were debated as late as 1907.

No woman served in the legislative body until 1923 when Dora B. Pinkham of Fort Kent was elected to the House of Representatives. Elizabeth Mitchell (representing a district that included part of Augusta) was the first woman elected to a leadership position in the Legislature when she became Speaker of the House in 1996. Beverly Daggett, representing Senate District 15 (which encompasses Augusta) is the first woman elected as President of the Senate. Recent accomplishments aside, it must be noted that there were a number of pieces of early legislation in Maine that acknowledged the rights of women in ways other states had not.

* In 1844, the Maine Legislature passed an Act granting married women the right “of holding their own property.” Mrs. Sarah N. Mace of Farmington was the impetus for this bill.

* In 1854, the Maine Legislature passed an Act giving married women rights to their own wages.

* Maine women gained the right to vote in all elections in 1920, with ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution, but the question of woman suffrage came before the legislature as early as 1869, with agitation for woman suffrage as early as 1854 when Susan B. Anthony spoke in Bangor. Woman suffrage was a controversial legislative topic in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, sparking much debate and requiring numerous roll call votes in the Legislature.

* Maine Public Law (Chapter 70, Section 5), approved in 1821, required the consent of a parent or guardian in order for a woman under the age eighteen to marry.

* Maine Public Law (Chapter 356, Section 7), approved in 1874, required the certification of at least two “respectable” physicians before a Maine resident (women included) could be committed to a mental asylum.

* In Maine, the Equal Rights Amendment passed in 1974, but has not yet been ratified nationally.

* Julie O’Brien is the representative from House District 96, one of three districts that include Augusta.

* Beverly Daggett, the first woman elected Senate President, represents Senate District 15, which encompasses Augusta.

Site #20-1 Sources:

	Agger, Lee. Women of Maine. Portland, ME: Guy Gannett Publishing Co., 1982.
	MacCrae, Melissa. It Takes A Woman: Women Shaping Public Policy. Brewer, ME: Goddess Publications, 1999.
	Maine (State of). Journal of the Senate of Maine, Thirty-third Legislature, Commencing January 4 and ending April 30, 1854. Augusta, ME: William T. Johnson, Printer to the State, 1854.
	Maine State Legislature. Online resource available at http://janus.state.me.us/legis/. Accessed 6 July 2001.
	North, James W. The History of Augusta Maine. Somesworth, NH: New England History Press, 1981. New forward by Edwin A. Churchill. Originally published in 1870 by Clapp and North of Augusta, ME.
	Portland Women's History Trail. Online resource available at www.usm.maine.edu/~history/newtrail.html. Accessed 17 January 2001.
	Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Convention of the Maine Woman Suffrage Association, held at Farmington, October 21 - 23, 1907. Portland, ME: E. E. Austin, 1908.
	Schriver, Edward O. –From Rule 25 to the ERA: Women in the Maine Legislature." In Maine, A History Through Selected Readings, eds. Edward O. Schriver and David C. Smith, 358-364. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1985.
	Thorndike, Joseph J. Jr., ed. Three Centuries of Notable American Architects. New York: American Heritage Pub. Co., 1981; Book trade distribution by Scribner.
	vonHerrlich, Phyllis. –Farmers, Lawyers or Merchants? Legislative Support for Woman Suffrage - 1873, 1883, 1893." Paper, Women Studies Independent Study, University of Maine, 2000. [Unpublished.]