President James Monroe signed the statehood bill on March 3, 1820. Maine officially became a state on March 15, 1820, with Portland as its first capital. (The capital moved to Augusta in 1832.) Separation did not immediately solve all problems. Maine struggled with debt, border disputes with Canada (resolved by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842), and its own economic challenges. But the new state government was closer, more responsive, and spent taxes on Maine’s own roads, schools, and militias.