Maine's Evolution: From Democratic-Republican to Federalist Beliefs

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Beyond the culture, and lifestyle of Maine, the state also greatly differs from other communities in terms of political culture. Maine’s government is driven by its community and is truly a government for the people and by the people. These deep roots can be traced back to the states strong democratic-republican ideology of the states maintaining sovereign control through the use of a small decentralized government, rather than a powerful, centralized federal government. However, as modernization began to break way, and the population of both the country and the state grew, these trends started to fracture allowing for more federalist beliefs to move in and establish within Maine government. The democratic-republican party stood for state’s …show more content…

They were very much a party which reflects the values of Maine both in the past, and its future, and this trend can be examined in the manner which the state has conducted its governmental affairs. Take the Maine Judicial Supreme Court for example; which began as numerous, loosely organized institutions to one of the country’s most nationally recognized courts due to the cases and activity of the unified court. This issue was pushed both by legislatures and individuals of the Maine community who called for the uniformity of the courts in order to create a more organized system that would waste less time and money for the people. The reform however, did not end there, and neither did the community aspect of these courts either. Many cases were brought to the Maine Judicial Supreme Court for a number of different issues, until the 1980s Maine’s court had did not review in full opinion any case from the state. In 1980 eight cases were reviewed by the federal courts, including the Fort Halifax Packing Co. v. Coyne, and, Alden v. Maine which both dealt with the regulation of large corporations …show more content…

For a long time, the structure of Maine’s power seemed to weigh heavily in favor of the people, rather than the governor or any single individual. In the 1970s to the late 1980s the state saw a rapid increase of public service programs which revolved around education, and environmental protection measures. Although this seems like it would be a positive step for the state, the increased activity in the state led to an explosion in Maine’s budget. This led many people to beg the question as to who was truly running the government, the people, or big institutions such as Central Maine Power, or Central Maine Railroad. The state also struggled with for a long period of time with its legislative branch, which had a much less smoother transition from loosely organized institutions to a professionally managed government. Maine’s legislature is far more bureaucratized than the other two branches, and many legislatures still blame the term limits law passed in 1996 for their inability to actually address real issues in the state because they’re more concerned with their re-election rather than the welfare of the

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