Flag of Maine
Template:Short description Template:Use American EnglishTemplate:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox flag The flag of the U.S. state of Maine features the state coat of arms on a blue field. In the center of a heraldic shield, a moose rests under a tall pine tree. A farmer and seaman are meant to represent the traditional reliance on agriculture and the sea by the state. The North Star is intended to allude to the state motto: dirigo ('I lead'). Maine has two official flags, and the current flag was adopted on February 23, 1909.
Statute and design
The law establishing the flag was enacted on February 23, 1909, and, to honor Union veterans, was modeled after flags used by Maine's units in the American Civil War:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
§206. State flag. The flag to be known as the official flag of the State shall be of blue, of the same color as the blue field in the flag of the United States, and of the following dimensions and designs; to wit, the length or height of the staff to be 9 feet, including brass spearhead and ferrule; the fly of said flag to be Template:Convert, and to be Template:Convert on the staff; in the center of the flag there shall be embroidered in silk on both sides of the flag the coat of arms of the State, in proportionate size; the edges to be trimmed with knotted fringe of yellow silk, Template:Convert wide; a cord, with tassels, to be attached to the staff at the spearhead, to be Template:Convert long and composed of white and blue silk strands. A flag made in accordance with the description given in this section shall be kept in the office of the Adjutant General as a model.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The design commonly used omits the circular ring prescribed by Maine Law as a part of the Maine arms and moves the "Sea and Forest Scene" from the outside of the shield to the inside of the shield. No known flags of the state conform to the official description. The coat of arms has no official colors, so variations in coloration can be seen in flags from different manufacturers. The blue field, however, is specified to be the same blue as in the flag of the United States. According to the official description, the flag should have a fringe of yellow silk and should have a blue and white silk cord attached at the spearhead; these embellishments are very rarely observed.
History
First flag
Template:Main Template:Gallery The first flag of Maine was adopted on March 21, 1901 and consisted of a green pine tree, a New England symbol that represented freedom, in the center, with a blue "North Star", all on a buff-colored background.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Shattuck, John W. (pseud. of W. J. Sidis). The Tribes and the States (unpublished manuscript), 1935. Chapter XIX, Section 104b. "It was about this time that the old Massachusetts rebel emblem of the Pine Tree, which was in its turn the emblem of the Penacook tribes, denoting the pine forests of New England and the type of freedom native to them, was put into use in modified form as a symbol of protest against arbitrary authority. The Pine Tree was still the emblem of the Massachusetts rebels, especially of the Okamakammesset followers; while those who indulged in the more centralized forms of protest sponsored by the Sons of Liberty in the colonies as a whole used the device in the modified form of a tall pole―the Pine Tree without its needles. These "liberty poles" played a great part in subsequent demonstrations against the authorities in [North] America, and were later adopted as a rebel emblem in other countries." http://www.mortenbrask.com/wp-content/uploads/The-tribes-and-the-states-SIDIS.pdf</ref> The flag was used as a state and military flag. According to the San Diego Union and Daily Bee, a state flag was carried in Chicago on July 4, 1880, but its design was not described.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There was a state flag hanging in the council chamber at the State House in 1891, the design is unknown.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Only one contemporary state flag is known to still exist today.
Second Flag
The Maine legislature approved the current flag of Maine on February 24, 1909.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The 1909 flag was as seen restoring the old flag that Maine's soldiers had fought under during the American Civil War. As one newspaper wrote, "The Union Blue of the traditional Maine flag honors the legacy of our forbearers and the sacrifices [made] to save the Union and Free the Slaves."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ensign
Template:Gallery Maine is also one of two states with a separate ensign, which is rarely seen (the other is Massachusetts). It features symbols from the current flag and the older one, with a white field and green pine tree. The green pine tree has the foul anchor, and the words "MAINE" and "DIRIGO" around it.
A photograph of the earliest-known specimen of the Maine merchant and marine flag was featured in a June 1939 International News Photos wire photo.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Militia flags
Template:Gallery Maine had a semi official state color used by its militia from 1822 to 1861. After separating from Massachusetts in 1820, the Maine Adjutant General Samuel Cony needed to supply flags for Maine's approximately 100 militia companies because one of the articles of separation required Maine to return all militia flags (but it failed to mention poles, which were retained and reused). Casting about for a cost-effective method of producing such quantity of flags, he engaged John R. Penniman of Boston in 1822 to provide a suitable design which was engraved onto a copper plate and then printed onto silk in multi-colors, the first known production of such for flags. A second printing was done in 1827. About a dozen or so portions of these flags still exist, including one at the Maine Historical Society still mounted on its original pole. The last known instance of a Maine militia unit using this flag was in 1861 at the First Battle of Bull Run, which was recorded as being captured by Confederate forces.
Several flags were used by the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War.
2020 Bicentennial flag
Template:Gallery In 2019, Maine lawmakers introduced a bill to adopt a simpler flag for the state, based on the original 1901 flag.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A flag with a buff background, a blue star, and green pine tree from the Merchant and Marine flag, created by the Maine Flag Company, was one of the proposed options. Maine resident Jeff Van West also submitted a design for the new flag. His flag had a white star on a dark blue of a night sky over a lighter blue representing the rivers, ponds, and oceanfront of Maine. He had the tree extend off the flag border to give the feeling of being in the forest looking out over the water.
The measure to change the state flag failed. However, the legislature approved creating a flag for Maine's Bicentennial in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Secretary of State Matt Dunlap submitted three designs for public comment: one of his own design, one using the Maine Bicentennial Committee logo, and a third based on Van West's flag, but replacing the white star with the red/gold/white Dirigo Star from the state flag.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After the third design won the contest, Van West offered Dunlap a further revision replacing the multicolored Dirigo Star with a monochromatic white version. Dunlap approved that design as the Maine 2020 Bicentennial Flag.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A grass-roots movement to adopt a modernized version of the 1901 flag has since sprung up.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2024 redesign and referendum
Template:Main Template:Gallery In November 2024, the state held a referendum on whether to restore the 1901 flag or keep the current one. The referendum had initially been scheduled for 2023, but the Maine Legislature delayed it until 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Legislature then attempted a further delay until 2026, which was vetoed by Governor Janet Mills.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On August 5, 2024, the winner of the flag redesign contest was announced, with honors going to Adam Lemire of Gardiner, Maine. His design, chosen out of more than 400 entries, features a pine tree modeled after one he saw in Viles Arboretum in Augusta, Maine. It has sixteen branches, one for each of Maine's counties.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The referendum, held as part of the 2024 United States elections, saw the proposed flag rejected by 55% to 45%.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Related flags
See also
References
External links
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