Free State of New Hampshire
New Hampshire is the largest state of New England. It is known for its fierce independence and natural beauty.
Districts
The state is divided into six Districts that illustrate the history of the state's expansion. Except for the District of New Hampshire, or New Hampshire Proper, each of the districts once had a partly autonomous government headed by a Deputy Governor. As the population rose in the different parts of New Hampshire, the district governments were merged into the state one by one. The exception is Madawaska, where the district-county has kept a special status to the present day. Despite the end of their separate governments, the districts are still well known as a part of local identity. They are, in this sense, similar to the vestigial provinces of Poutaxia and Ohio.
The districts are divided into counties and the counties into towns.
The Districts:
The districts are divided into counties and the counties into towns.
The Districts:
- New Hampshire: Established in 1629, the colony struggled for decades. Its low population led it to be absorbed into Massachusetts Bay for about forty years, while various grantees in America and England squabbled over its status. King Charles II confirmed its status as a separate colony, though it shared a governor with the bigger colony off and on.
- New Somersetshire: This district has the most complex history of the six. Established in 1629 as a twin colony to New Hampshire, New Somersetshire faced an even more serious lack of money and manpower. It too was absorbed into Massachusetts Bay. Royal charters in the 1680s specified that New Somersetshire, like New Hampshire, would share a governor with Massachusetts, but the question was still open whether it was an integral part of the colony or a separate territory. As New Hampshire emerged as a fully separate colony, it asserted a claim to the district, ultimately securing the support of the local people who asked to be put under the New Hampshirite governor. Under the eighteenth-century Third Dominion of New England, New Hampshire secured control of the district once and for all. The state capital was moved to Falmouth, seat of New Somersetshire, in the later 19th century.
- New Cornwall: This colony was established in the 1680s as a possession of James, Duke of York. Under the colonial Dominions of New England, it had an ambiguous status similar to New Somersetshire. Massachusetts Bay continued to claim the land until after Independence, by which time New Hampshirite militia had occupied the few major coastal settlements. At the time those settlements were more Acadian than English, but many New Hampshire Yankees soon moved in.
- English Acadia: This is the territory beyond the St. Croix River that New Hampshire wrested from the sparsely settled and poorly organized Acadian French and Scots after the Wars of Independence. New Hampshire would not have chosen this name, but it appeared in treaties with New Scotland and Acadia and subsequently was used in state law. The culture is a distinct mix of Acadian and Yankee.
- Coösland: The far north was made a separate district in the 1820s. New Hampshire wanted a deputy governor in the area to govern this wild region and maintain the border against Canadian encroachment. The district government was abolished when the area was divided into counties in the 1870s.
- Madawaska: Madawaska was a breakaway Acadian republic that declared independence from France in the 1830s. Angry with the heavy-handed actions of the French government, citizens petitioned New Hampshire for annexation. It remains mostly French-speaking. Its elected executive bears the title President of the Republic and County of Madawaska.
Flag
The flag of New Hampshire is noticeably similar to that of Massachusetts Bay. For all their rivalry during the colonial era, New Hampshire and Massachusetts became firm allies upon Independence. For many years they flew the same flag, blue with a pine tree in a square white canton. New Hampshire switched to a green flag in the middle of the 19th century.