In Tuesday’s Pearl Harbor post, I appended a little shout out to my home state’s role in ending the Russo-Japanese War. Well, just when you thought China had a monopoly on specious historical claims, here comes Maine and their splittist propaganda:
Really enjoyed your recent post on Pearl Harbor and historical absolutism. It’s somewhat difficult for me to hear anyone even suggest that the number of historical absolutists in America is fewer than elsewhere, because as an American living in the UK essentially all I hear about is how skewed our view of this or that historical event is. It breeds apologists of my fellow American expats, which I don’t love (when do Brits ever apologize for the situation they had such a hand in creating in Africa, to pick an atrocity out of a hat?).
I’m writing to note, however, that in fact you New Hampshire people–well, you can try to claim the Treaty of Portsmouth all you want, but the site of its signing in fact is in my home state across the border from Portsmouth. It’s somewhat confusing, but the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, located in Kittery, Maine.
I know, I know, it’s tai jiangjiu to point out this infinitesimal point (possibly tai guofen) but I just can’t have you stealing our glory!
- Kit
For everyone who lives outside of the NH/ME axis of alcoholism, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is located on a set of conjoined islands near the mouth of the Piscataqua River. Maine claims the border between the two states is in the middle of the river, conveniently placing the islands in Maine while NH asserts a territorial claim all the way across the river and to the Maine shore. The US Navy, always a good arbiter of territorial disputes, formerly sided with the Granite State in this regard, but later changed its mind.
But let me state for the record:
This sort of rhetoric deeply and grievously wounds the feelings of 1.3 million New Hampshirites who will not stand blithely by while foreign forces encourage splittist elements in our border regions. Seavey’s Island has always been a part of New Hampshire. History says so, and anyone who disagrees is trampling on our sovereignty and is meddling in our internal affairs.
Of course the US Supreme Court thought otherwise, so Kit might be right…ah the wicked forces of imperialism, do they ever rest?
Imperialist map of Portsmouth Harbor allegedly disputing New Hampshire's longstanding historical claims to Seavey's Island.