A century ago, some Mainers sought annexation of Canada

Canada is going to be annexed to the United States before the end of the present century, and nothing which she can do will be able to hinder this most happy consummation,” declared an editorial in the Bangor Daily News on Dec. 11, 1903.

Enumerating all the territory acquired by the United States since its founding up through the recent Spanish-American War when the country had begun adding a whole new set of possessions, the editorial writer asserted, “We are just beginning to like the taste of new territory and are looking around for more. Within a few years we shall have acquired Cuba, and soon after we shall take Panama.”

He went on to predict the annexation of Greenland, Iceland, the Danish West Indies, Haiti (“if they do not stop making trouble”) and Mexico (“most any time”).

Had the writer been drinking or was this a satire? Not at all. The incident that touched off this imperialistic bombast occurred on Nov. 23 when U.S. Sen. Eugene Hale of Ellsworth launched a “savage” attack on Joseph Chamberlain, Britain’s colonial secretary. Chamberlain had proposed the erection of a system of protective tariffs that would favor Canada and other cooperative dominions and colonies, and discriminate against the rest of Europe and the United States in the hopes of strengthening the British Empire. Sen. Hale said such a move would only hasten Canada’s annexation by the United States by touching off a trade war that this country would win.

Hale had been predicting such an eventuality for a long time. But his “savage attack” on Chamberlain was called “in bad taste” in some circles and “uncalled for under the circumstances” during a debate on a resolution inviting Cuba to become part of the United States.

The idea of annexing our northern neighbor certainly was not new. On more than one occasion Maine had been a conduit for attempted military takeovers. Remember Benedict Arnold’s march to Quebec, or a lesser-known fiasco by Irish nationalists who tried to invade Campobello by way of Eastport in 1866?

Up though the Civil War, Americans feared Canada could be used as a base for hostile forces. Britain supported the Confederacy. The unsuccessful Calais bank robbery launched by Confederate interests in 1864 from New Brunswick was only one small example. Canada was a convenient hideaway for draft dodgers throughout the war.

With its natural resources and growing population, Canada was also an economic magnet. After bullets were abandoned, powerful men such as U.S. Secretary of State James G. Blaine envisioned using trade policies such as tariffs to force Canada into the American fold.

The influential Maine politician, who served as secretary of state under Presidents James Garfield and Benjamin Harrison, once said, “The fact is we do not want any intercourse with Canada except through the medium of a tariff, and she will find she has a hard row to hoe and will ultimately, I believe, seek admission to the Union.”

An “implacable foe of all that bore the name British,” according to historian Donald Warner, Blaine was motivated by his Irish descent and the fact he long represented Maine, where residents still remembered the “bloodless” Aroostook War and fishermen were often in an uproar over their rights in disputed waters.

Of course, some Canadians were also in favor of annexation. The issue is woven through the histories of both countries as an occasional rallying cry for solving economic and other disputes. But according to Warner, the movement lacked a strong toehold in the United States by the late 19th century, and it appears to have been a relic of an idea by the 20th despite the rhetoric of a small number of politicians such as Hale and businessmen from border states.

In 1888 Hale had introduced a bill to annex Canada outright, but it never got out of committee. Between 1888 and 1891 he was one of only 10 mostly Republican members of the House and Senate who showed much favorable interest in the subject, according to Warner.

Another proponent was Congressman Llewellyn Powers, an influential Republican from Houlton who had served two terms as governor of Maine. A few weeks after the BDN editorial in 1903, he made a speech at a forum on the subject in Boston. “If the Canadian people wish the privilege of trading with us, they should become a part of the United States,” he said bluntly.

Old wounds died hard. He hearkened back to the Civil War, nearly a half-century before, when “we had anything but sympathetic people on our border.”

Some of the people at the forum, sponsored by the Essex Club, spoke favorably of tariff reciprocity. But Powers remained undeterred.

“You Boston people may think you can get your woolens and machinery into Canada free, but in exchange you will be flooded with Canadian lumber and agricultural products. Now that would hurt the businessmen and farmers of Maine,” he said.

Maine and other states periodically still fight these battles over lumber, potatoes and other products. And politicians and editorial writers still sound off. While annexation is an anachronistic solution, the concerns of Hale and Powers are still alive and well. Diplomacy and international agreements that treat Canada and other countries as equal entities, however, are the tools of choice today.

Wayne E. Reilly can be reached at reilly@bangordailynews.net.