Illinois

Illinois is also home to 49 colleges in the Illinois community college system. Maine has a long tradition of personal self-reliance, and Yankee ingenuity. Notable Illinois institutions of higher education include Loyola University Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Chicago and the several branches of the University of Illinois. The three largest Protestant denominations in Maine are: Baptist (12% of the total state population), Methodist (8%), Congregationalist (3%). While many students enter the military or join the workforce directly from high school, students have the option of applying to colleges and universities in Illinois. The religious affiliations of the people of Maine are:. In some cases, elementary, middle and junior high schools of a single district feed into high schools in another district. The five largest ancestries in the state are: English (21.5%), Irish (15.1%), French (14.2%), American (9.4%), French Canadian (8.6%).

District territories are often complex in structure. The racial makeup of the state is:. Education is compulsory from kindergarten through the twelfth grade in Illinois, commonly but not exclusively divided into three tiers of primary and secondary education: elementary school, middle school or junior high school and high school. As explained in detail under "Geography" there are large tracts of uninhabited land in some remote parts of the interior. Opponents to the proposal argue that local communities would lose control over what their children would learn in public schools and the means by which those public schools operate. For example, some communities may have a much larger seasonal retail sector than their official, small population figure would imply. The structure would mimic the system employed by the Hawaii State Department of Education, which has no local school districts. Therefore, there are some situations in which official census figures could be misleading for Maine.

However, direct control of the new department would fall under the state governor's jurisdiction. These are the summer people of Maine lore. Official census figures normally count a person as a resident only once, at the place of the primary home. In 2002, the Office of the Governor proposed the creation of a monolithic statewide department of education to replace the ISBE. Many of these visitors establish an alternate secondary residence in Maine during some or all warm months and then depart for their primary residence in the off-season. There is current debate as to the role of the ISBE and whether or not its autonomous relationship with the governor and the state legislature is appropriate. Maine is a popular tourist destination, but it also experiences harsh winters and, consequently, the great temporary influx of visitors occurs during the warmer months. The ISBE also makes recommendations to state leaders concerning education spending and policies. As of 2003, the state's population was 1,305,728.

Local municipalities and their respective school districts operate individual public schools but the ISBE audits performance of public schools with an annual school report card. Maine is also the home of The Jackson Laboratory, a non-profit institution and the world's largest mammalian genetic research facility. The Illinois State Board of Education or ISBE, autonomous of the governor and the state legislature, administers public education in the state. Bean (Freeport). See complete listing here... Some of the very few large companies that do maintain headquarters in Maine include Fairchild Semiconductor (South Portland) and the famous outdoor supply retailer L.L. The three largest Protestant denominations in Illinois are: Baptist (15% of total state population), Lutheran (8%), Methodist (8%). Structurally, this could be a weakness in an economy that depends on extracting forest and sea resources, because decisions that affect the long-range stability of the resource base are being made in distant locations which do not have to live on a day to day basis with the consequences of their policies.

The religious affiliations of the people of Illinois are:. Maine has very few large companies that maintain headquarters in the state, and fewer than before due to consolidations and mergers, particularly in the pulp and paper industry. Roman Catholics (who are predominant in and around Chicago) account for one-third of the population. Historically, however, beaver trapping was much more significant in the North Woods and Canadian Maritimes than the small industry of today and was the cause of much early wealth and many trading settlements. Unlike the other Midwestern states, Illinois is not overwhelmingly Protestant--only about half of the people profess that faith. The principal pelt taken by value is beaver. Females made up approximately 51% of the population. Note: Many trappers are part-time).

7.1% of Illinois' population were reported as under 5, 26.1% under 18, and 12.1% were 65 or older. Maine has a small trapping industry, which, with 3,157 resident trappers, is nevertheless larger than that of most Eastern states ( Source: Portland Press Herald, Jan 23, 2005. The top 5 ancestry groups in Illinois are German (19.6%), African American (15.1%), Irish (12.2%), Mexican (9.2%), Polish (7.5%). In 2001, Maine's largest city surpassed Boston as New England's busiest port (by tonnage), due to its ability to handle large tankers. Racially, the state is:. Around 1880, Portland's rail link and ice-free port made it eastern Canada's principal winter port, until the aggressive development of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the mid-1900s. The rest of the population lives in the smaller cities and on the farms that dot the state's gently rolling plains. Maine ports play a key role in national transportation.

More than half of the population of Illinois lives in and around Chicago, the leading industrial and transportation center in the region. Naval shipbuilding and construction remain key as well, with Bath Iron Works in Bath and Portsmouth Naval Yard in Kittery. At the northern edge of the state on Lake Michigan lies Chicago, the nation's third largest city. Its industrial outputs are paper, lumber, and wood products, electronic equipment, leather products, food processing, textiles, and tourism. Census Bureau, as of 2003, the population of Illinois was 12,653,544. Aroostook County is known for its potato crops. According to the U.S. Maine's agricultural outputs are seafood (notably lobsters), poultry and eggs, dairy products, cattle, blueberries, apples, and maple sugar.

Its industrial outputs are machinery, food processing, electrical equipment, chemical products, publishing, fabricated metal products, transportation equipment, petroleum and coal. Its per capita personal income for 2003 was $29,164, 29th in the nation. Illinois' agricultural outputs are corn, soybeans, hogs, cattle, dairy products and wheat. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (http://www.bea.gov/) estimates that Maine's total gross state product for 2003 was $41 billion. The per capita income was $32,965. The noted American ecologist Rachel Carson did much of her research at one of the Maine seacoast's most characteristic features, a tide pool for her classic "The Edge of the Sea." The spot where she conducted observations is now preserved as the Rachel Carson Salt Pond Reserve at Pemaquid Point. The 2003 total gross state product for Illinois was $499 billion, placing it 5^th in the nation. Millions of ordinary Americans have enjoyed this coastal scenery at Maine's Acadia National Park, the only national park in New England, and the second-most visited national park in the United States.

In extreme northwestern Illinois the Driftless Area, a region of unglaciated and therefore comparatively higher and more rugged topography, occupies a small part of the state. In the case of Maine there has been a partially offsetting rise in land also, due to the melting of heavy glacier ice, which caused a rebounding effect of underlying rock; however, this land rise was not strong enough to eliminate all the effect of the rising sea level and its invasion of some former land features. Both figures are as of 2004. More prosaic geologists describe this type of landscape as a drowned coast, where a rising sea level has invaded former land features, creating bays out of valleys and islands out of mountain tops. while Cook County is the largest county in terms of population, at 5,327,777. Vincent Millay of Rockland and Camden, Maine in "Renascence":. McLean County, is the largest county in terms of land area, at 1,184 sq mi. This visual contrast of forested slopes sweeping down to the sea has been aptly summed up by American poetess Edna St.

This division comprises the area generally along and south of Interstate 70. Just inland, by contrast, is the view of sparkling lakes, rushing rivers, green forests and towering mountains. The combination of coal mining and industrialization, especially in the region around Saint Louis, Missouri, has caused the region to lean Democratic politically. Jagged rocks and cliffs and thousands of bays and inlets add to the rugged beauty of Maine's coast. The third division is Southern Illinois, or Little Egypt, distinguished from the other two by its warmer climate, different mix of crops (including some cotton farming in the past), more rugged unglaciated topography, coal mining, and proximity to the juncture of the Mississippi River and Ohio River. Along the famous rock-bound coast of Maine are lighthouses, sandy beaches, quiet fishing villages and thousands of offshore islands, including the Isles of Shoals, which straddles the New Hampshire border. This region's largely rural character helps to sustain a heavily Republican voting pattern and widespread antipathy toward Chicago. West Quoddy Head is the country's easternmost piece of land.

Major cities include famously average Peoria, Springfield (the state capital), and Champaign-Urbana (home of the University of Illinois). Maine is equally well known for its dramatic ocean scenery. Agriculture, particularly corn and soybeans, figures prominently. For example, the Northwest Aroostook, Maine "territory" in the far north is listed as having an area of 2,668 square miles and a population of 27, or one person for every 100 square miles. Known as the Land of Lincoln, it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. In the forested areas of the interior there is much uninhabited land, some of which does not even have formal political organization into local units. Southward and westward, the second major division is Central Illinois, an area of rolling hills and flat prairie. It is appropriately called the Pine Tree State, as 90 percent of its land is forest.

While this tendency has historically been balanced by Republican voters in the suburbs, Democrats have significantly increased their suburban support in the past decade. Maine is the most sparsely populated state east of the Mississippi River, owing in part to its huge relative size—its land mass exceeds that of all other New England states combined. The city of Chicago is heavily Democratic. Also in this easternmost area is the Old Sow, the largest tidal whirlpool in the world. This region is cosmopolitan, densely populated, industrialized, and settled by a variety of ethnic groups. Machias Seal Island, off its easternmost point, is claimed by both the USA and Canada and is the only portion of all US boundaries still in dispute with respect to sovereignty. This region includes a few counties in Indiana and Wisconsin and streches across much of the Northern Illinois toward the Iowa border, generally along and north of Interstate 80. Maine also has several unique geographical features.

The first is Chicagoland, including the city of Chicago, its suburbs, and the adjoining exurban area into which the metropolis is expanding. Its largest lake is Moosehead Lake, and its highest mountain is Mt. Katahdin, which is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Illinois has three major geographical divisions. It is the only state that borders exactly one other state. Illinois also borders Michigan, but only via a water boundary in Lake Michigan. Maine is the northernmost state in the New England region and the easternmost state in the country (the easternmost city in the United States is Eastport, Maine), bordered on the west by New Hampshire. and borders on Lake Michigan. Surrounding states are Wisconsin to the north, Iowa and Missouri to the west, Kentucky to the south, and Indiana to the east. The Canadian province of Quebec is to the northwest.

It is in the north-central U.S. To the south and east is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the northeast is New Brunswick, a province of Canada. See List of Illinois counties. See:. The judiciary is comprised of the state supreme court, which oversees the lower appelate courts and circuit courts. Senators from Maine, List of Maine State Senators, As Maine goes, so goes Vermont. Legislative functions are given to the Illinois General Assembly, comprised of the 118-member Illinois State House of Representatives and the 59-member Illinois State Senate. See also: List of Governors of Maine, U.S.

The executive branch is led by the Governor of Illinois. Mitchell, Olympia Snowe, and Hannibal Hamlin. As codified in the state constitution, there are three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial.
Famous politicians from Maine include James Blaine, Edmund Muskie, Margaret Chase Smith, William Cohen, George J. The state government of Illinois is modeled after the federal government with adaptations originating from traditions cultivated during the state's frontier era. The other two go to the highest vote-winner in each of the state's two congressional districts. Seventeen cavalry regiments were also mustered, as well as two light artillery regiments. Since 1969, two of Maine's four electoral votes are awarded based on the winner of the statewide election.

Beginning with President Lincoln's first call for troops and continuing throughout the war, Illinois mustered 150 infantry regiments (see Illinois in the Civil War), which were numbered from the 7th IL to the 156th IL. Maine politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, are noted for having more moderate views than many in their party. During the Civil War, over 250,000 Illinois men served in the Union Army, more than any other northern state except New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The Green Party also elected John Eder to the office of State Representative in Maine, its highest elected official nationwide. By 1857, Chicago was Illinois' largest city (see History of Chicago). The Green Party candidate won 9 percent of the vote in the 2002 gubernatorial election, more than in any election for a statewide office for that party. Chicago gained prominence as a canal port after 1848, and as a rail hub soon afterward. The Reform Party of Ross Perot achieved a great deal of success in Maine in the 1992 and 1996 Presidential elections: in 1992 Perot came in second in Maine to Bill Clinton, despite the longtime presence of the Bush family summer home in Kennebunkport, and in 1996, Maine was again Perot's best state.

Illinois is known as the "Land of Lincoln" because it is here that the 16th President spent his formative years. Longley from 1975 to 1979 and Angus King from 1995 to 2003). With the 1832 Black Hawk War, the last native tribes were driven out of northern Illinois. Maine has had two independent Governors recently (James B. settlement began in the south part of the state and quickly spread northward, driving out the native residents. Maine voters tend to accept independent and third-party candidates more frequently than most states. Early U.S. Maine has since become a left-leaning swing state, but has voted Democratic in four straight elections, casting its votes for Bill Clinton twice, Al Gore in 2000, and John Kerry in 2004.

state. In 1968, Hubert Humphrey became the first Democrat in half a century to carry Maine (sans for the 1964 landslide victory of Lyndon Johnson), thanks to the presence of his running mate, Maine Senator Edmund Muskie. In 1818, Illinois became the 21st U.S. Beginning in the 1960s, Maine began to lean toward the Democrats. The Illinois Territory was created on February 3, 1809. Roosevelt received the Electoral Votes of every state other than Maine and Vermont. The Illinois-Wabash Company was an early claimant to much of Illinois. In the 1936 presidential election, Franklin D.

The area was ceded to the new United States in 1783 and became part of the Northwest Territory. In the 1930s, it was one of very few states which remained dominated by the Republican Party. As a result of their exploration, Illinois was part of the French empire until 1763, when it passed to the British. Maine's politics are notable for several reasons, and it is dramatic. and Louis Joliet explored the Illinois River in 1673. senators are Susan Collins (Republican) and Olympia Snowe (Republican). French explorers Jacques Marquette,S.J. Its two U.S.

The Ilini were replaced in Illinois by the Potawatomi, Miami, Sauk, and other tribes. The capital of Maine is Augusta and its governor is John Baldacci (Democrat). The Illini suffered in the seventeenth century as Iroquois expansion forced them to compete with several tribes for land. Maine's original capital was Portland until 1832, when it was moved to the more geographically central city of Augusta. The Illiniwek gave Illinois its name. This has become known as the Missouri Compromise because admitting both states into the union kept the balance between slave and free states. The next major power in the region was the Illiniwek Confederation, a political alliance among several tribes. Because it was physically separated from the rest of Massachusetts and was growing in population at a rapid rate, it became the 23rd state along with Missouri on March 15, 1820.

That civilization vanished circa 1400-1500 for unknown reasons. The province within its current boundaries became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1652, and was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts when the United States was formed. Cahokia, the urban center of the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, was located near present-day Collinsville, Illinois. Eastern Maine north of the Kennebec River was more sparsely settled and was known in the 17th century as the Territory of Sagadahock. The USS Illinois was named in honor of this state. Originally settled in 1607 by the Plymouth Company, the coastal areas of western Maine first became the Province of Maine in 1622 land patent. postal abbreviation for the state is IL. The state is chilly, with moderately warm summers but very few actual hot days.

The U.S. Four U.S. Navy ships were named USS Maine in honor of the state. Most of the state's population resides in Chicago and its suburbs. postal abbreviation is ME. The capital of Illinois is Springfield while its largest city is Chicago, along the waterfront of Lake Michigan. Its U.S. The word Illiniwek means simply "the people". Another possibility for the name 'Maine' is that the people living on islands along the coast of Maine used to speak of going to the mainland as 'going over to the Main".

Its name was given by the state's French explorers after the indigenous Illiniwek people, a consortium of Algonquin tribes that thrived in the area. It is probably named after the French province of Maine. Illinois (pronounced [ˌɪləˈnɔɪ] or occasionally [ˌɪləˈnɔɪz]) constitutes the 21st state of the United States, located in the former Northwest Territory. Maine is a state of the United States. State tree: White oak (Quercus alba). State soft drink: Moxie. State snack: Popcorn. State cat: Maine Coon.

State song: "Illinois". State song: State of Maine Song. State slogan: "Land of Lincoln". State fish: Atlantic salmon. State prairie grass: Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii). State insect: Honeybee. State motto: "State sovereignty, national union". State mammal: Moose.

State mineral: Fluorite. State tree: White Pine. State insect: Monarch butterfly. State flower: White Pinecone and Tassel. State fossil: Tully Monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium). State bird: Chickadee. State flower: Purple violet (Viola sororia). Lewiston MAINEiacs, minor league hockey, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

State fish: Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). Bangor Lumberjacks, minor league baseball, Can-Am League. State dance: Square dance. Portland Pirates, minor league hockey, American Hockey League. State capital: Springfield. baseball). State bird: Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). Portland Sea Dogs, minor league baseball, Eastern League (U.S.

State animal: White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Non-Religious – 11%. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President, is buried in Springfield, Illinois. Other Religions – 1%. Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, was born in Tampico, Illinois. Other Christian – 1%. Non-Religious – 8%. Roman Catholic – 31%.

Other Religions – 3%. Protestant – 52%. Other Christian – 1%. 1% Mixed race. Roman Catholic – 33%. 0.6% American Indian. Protestant – 51%. 0.5% Black.

1.9% mixed race. 0.7% Asian. 0.2% American Indian. 0.7% Hispanic. 3.4% Asian. 96.5% White non-Hispanic. 12.3% Hispanic. List of Maine rivers.

15.1% Black. List of Maine counties. 67.8% White Non-Hispanic. The Junior United States Senator is Barack Obama (Democrat). Durbin (Democrat).

The Senior United States Senator is Richard J. The Treasurer of Illinois is Judy Baar Topinka (Republican). The Secretary of State of Illinois is Jesse White (Democrat). The Lieutenant Governor of Illinois is Pat Quinn (Democrat).

The Governor of Illinois is Rod Blagojevich (Democrat).