AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) -For the first time in nearly 150 years, Maine’s official constitution is back in print with its original Native American treaty obligations on full public display.
State leaders gathered in Augusta to unveil only the third official printing in Maine’s history, marking a major milestone in restoring historical visibility to the state’s founding documents.
When Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820, its original constitution outlined binding treaty obligations with Wabanaki nations. An 1875 constitutional amendment, however, barred those specific sections from being printed in official copies, obscuring them from public view for generations.
Following a statewide vote in 2023, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows officially unveiled the restored edition.
“These treaty obligations were never rescinded, they never went away, they always existed,” Bellows said. “It is wrong that we have a secret part of the Constitution.”
Five official copies are being delivered directly to Wabanaki nations, whose leaders worked alongside state lawmakers to restore the omitted language.
The third printing also incorporates a voter-approved amendment that makes Maine the first state in the country to declare a constitutional “right to food.”
State Sen. Craig Hickman co-authored the measure alongside Penobscot farmer Heather Retberg and local agricultural advocates. Mainers ratified the amendment with 61% approval.
“Where I come from, you don’t grow up dreaming that someday your words will be enshrined in a Constitution,” Hickman said. “And here in Maine, the people ratified with 61% of the vote the words that I co-authored with my very good sister friend Heather Retberg, a farmer in Penobscot.”
Producing the 28-page historical document was an intensive, months-long endeavor. Artisans used a 19th-century printing press to hand-set every backward letter onto traditional vellum pages.
Maine State Archivist Christian Cotz said the endeavor guarantees the foundation of the state remains transparent and accessible to everyone.
“Mainers chose to put this language back in the Constitution,” Cotz said. “And it’s the job of the Maine Archives to preserve that forever.”
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