Maine History Volume 35 Number 1 Issues 1-2; Washburn Memorial Library, Third Annual Washburn Humanities Article 4 Conference, Livermore, June 9, 1995 7-1-1995 Maine Migrations: Arthur and Harold Sewall in the Pacific Paul Burlin Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistoryjournal Part of the History of the Pacific Islands Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Burlin, Paul. "Maine Migrations: Arthur and Harold Sewall in the Pacific." Maine History 35, 1 (1995): 26-45. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistoryjournal/vol35/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maine History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. PAUL BURLIN MAINE MIGRATIONS: ARTHUR AND HAROLD SEWALL IN THE PACIFIC The Sewall family of Bath, with a long tradition in Maine shipbuilding helped shape America 5 expansionist Pacific vision at the turn of the century. Arthur Sewall, a vice-presidential candidate in 1896, articulated a policy of protec tionism, territorial expansion in the Pacific, and free coinage of silver. Harold Sewall, consul general to Samoa and minister to Hawaii, was equally expansionist Father and son, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, shared an understanding that events around the world had an immediate impact on hometown life in coastal Maine. Joining the late-nineteenth-century race for overseas colo nies, the American government focused on the islands in the Pacific as potential sources for raw materials and strategic fueling stations.