Both generals were scholarly men．Howard was a principal founder of Howard University and served as its first president．Chamberlain became president of Bowdoin College．
Prohibition and the abolitionist（废除主义者）movement gave the Republican Party its start in Maine in 1854．Hannibal Hamlin，a Democratic U．S．senator who broke with his party over the slavery question，was instrumental in forming the Republican Party in Maine，and served as the state’s first GOP governor．In 1860Hamlin was elected the nation’s first Republican vice president under Abraham Lincoln．
Also during this period there emerged Maine’s most influential 19th century political figure，James G．Blaine．From the mid－1860s to the end of the century Blaine virtually dominated state and national Republican politics，as speaker of the U．S．House of Representatives，a powerful U．S．senator，and secretary of state in three Republican administrations．He was the GOP presidential candidate in 1884，but lost narrowly to Grover Cleveland．
Thomas B．Reed served continuously in Congress through the final quarter of the 19th century，and was its most powerful political figure during much of that time．A three－term House speaker，Reed was a masterful（专横的）parliamentarian who used his position so vigorously to bring about vital reforms in House rules that he became known as “Czar Reed”．He literally rewrote the book on parliamentary procedure（手续）：Reed’s Rules of Order are still used in the Maine Legislature．
Maine’s textile and leather industries enjoyed a dramatic upward surge（汹涌）following the Civil War，while farming activity correspondingly（相对地）decreased．
Responding to Thomas Edison’s discoveries in the 1890s，Maine began utilizing（利用）its vast river resources for the development of hydroelectric（水力电气的）power．Plants for the production of electricity were built principally on the Androscoggin，Kennebec，Penobscot and Saco Rivers．
Maine’s industrial growth continued，although at a much slower pace，into the 20th century．Expansion of the pulp and paper industry offset（弥补）the loss of textile mills to the South．Large potato－growing，dairy and poultry farms replaced the decreasing number of small family farms．
The Great Depression of the 1930s brought the state’s economy to a grinding halt along with the rest of the nation．
In 1974，they helped elect the nation’s only independent governor，James B．Longley of Lewiston．Longley was succeeded first by a Democrat and then a Republican，but in 1994Maine elected another independent governor，Angus S．King，Jr．of Brunswick．Muskie was appointed secretary of state by President Jimmy Carter in 1979．He was succeeded by George J．Mitchell of Waterville，who went on to serve as Senate majority leader from 1988until his retirement from Congress in 1994．
Governor州长
John Elias Baldacci在2002年被选举为缅因州州长，2003年1月8日宣布就职。Baldacci州长出生在Bangor。在1978年，当他23岁时就在Bangor市议会中赢得了一席之地。他从缅因大学获得了历史学学士学位，那时他在一家家庭餐馆工作，在那段时间里，他得到了缅因商业很多的机会和挑战。
John Elias Baldacci was elected governor of the state of Maine in 2002and was sworn into office on January 8，2003．
Governor Baldacci was born and raised in Bangor．He was first elected to public office in 1978，when he won a seat on the Bangor City Council at the age of 23．While working at the family restaurant in Bangor，he earned a B．A．in history from the University of Maine．During this time he learned much about the opportunities and challenges facing Maine’s small businesses．In 1982he was elected to the Maine State Senate，where he served until 1994．
In 1994，Baldacci was elected to represent the Second District of Maine in the U．S．House of Representatives．He also took his family business on the road，serving spaghetti（意大利式细面条）suppers in little towns tucked away in the massive Second District，the largest congressional（会议的，国会的）district east of the Mississippi．At these charity dinners he did something rare in politics．He listened．
And Governor Baldacci is a patient listener．The concern he showed was proved genuine through his consistent problem solving and benefits gained for his constituents（委托人）．
Re－elected to Congress in 1996，1998，and again in 2000，Baldacci served on the House Agriculture Committee and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure（基础下部组织）．Through this committee work，he was involved in many decisions important to Maine’s natural resource－based economy．During his four terms in the U．S．House，he returned every weekend to meet people throughout the district．He heard the need to strengthen Maine’s economy and worked to increase value－added processing，so products are worth more when they leave our state．He expanded trading opportunities for Maine businesses．He worked to increase federal funding for research and development at Maine schools and hospitals，and he secured more federal dollars for Maine transportation．
In Congress，John Baldacci focused attention on economic development issues—working to support value－added processing in Maine，to expand trading opportunities for Maine businesses，to increase federal funding for research and development，and to obtain more resources for the state’s transportation network．He also sought to change our government—working for a balanced budget，a ban on lobbyist（活动议案通过者）gifts，and enactment of campaign finance reform legislation．
Fighting tirelessly，Governor Baldacci has focused his efforts through the years on education and economical development．He has helped expand access to technology in the classroom，reduced class size and increased federal government support for special education．During his many years in public service Governor Baldacci has fought to change government，working for a balanced budget，a ban on lobbyist gifts and campaign finance reform legislation．