FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS. The question of Maine's ownership
was a matter of continuing dispute between England and France
throughout the first half of the 18th century.
The period was also marked by a series of Indian raids on white
settlements, forays which had the active support of the French
interested in seeing the English settlers driven from the land.
One of the significant military developments of the French and
Indian Wars was the capture of the French fort at Louisburg, Nova
Scotia, in 1745 by a contingent of forces led by William Pepperell
of Kittery. The 1763 Treaty of Paris ended all French claims to
the territory.
After the Indian threat lessened in the mid-1700s, the population
of Maine began to grow, encouraged by an open offer by Massachusetts
of 100-acre lots free to anyone who would settle the northern
province.
The population doubled from 12,000 to 24,000 between 1743 and
1763. By the end of the century, the number of Maine settlers
had grown to more than 150,000.