The Maine Law of 1851: How the Prohibitionists Made It

THE MAINE LAW OF 1851: HOW THE PROHIBITIONISTS MADE IT Masaru OKAMOTO Introduction The purpose of this paper is to examine the prohibition movement in the state of Maine. Emphasis will be placed on the role of Neal Dow , chief spokesman of it. Maine was one of the states which faced more severe drinking problems than most others. In addition, until the 1830's the temperance movement in Maine was sluggish for several reasons. But from the late 1840's on, Maine became one of the leading states in the campaign for statewide prohibition. A stringent law-the so-called Main Law of 1851-was enacted, and it became throughout the succeed- ing decade the prototype of the prohibitory laws in ten other states and two territories. The process of making the Maine Law was a long struggle for the prohibitionists. How did the prohibitionists in Maine succeed in enacting the Law of 1851? And what kind of strategy did they use for the purpose of making prohibitionism a popular movement? Attempts will be made in this paper to answer these questions. I From Temperance to Prohibition: A Survey In the 17th and 18th centuries "temperance" meant moderate drinking of ardent spirits. Later it implied abstinence from all intoxicating liquors including "Holy wine." Likewise, in those early days, temperance advocates tried to reason people out of excessive drinking by using the method of "moral suasion." But gradually they resorted to prohibition or forbidding by law of all use of intoxicating liquors. Thus temperance which had basically been a moral issue came to assume 199 a severe, extreme tone and as such it took no time before it assumed a political character or became a political issue. Throughout American history liquor was sometimes a friend and at other times an enemy of the people. American colonials used rum as a substitute for money in exchange for necessary goods with Indians and Europeans. Even after independence Americans, especially those in New England, still depended much upon the rum trade. Since the colonial era, taverns and inns had played an integral role in community life, not only because they sold or served liquors, but because they offered centers for social life. They were a kind of "community center" like a town hall or a meetinghouse. Taverns were usually located at con- venient places for travellers who carried information or news about far distant places of the country or even of foreign nations. Liquor was a great diversion in America's hard and monotonous life. The people who came together in taverns were by no means limited to those in the lower classes. Merchants, doctors, and even clergymen also came. Moreover, until the middle of the 19th century, many people looked upon spirituous liquor as a kind of medicine to protect the human body from hard work under summer heat and winter cold. It may be recalled that not only bullets but also liquor had been regarded as indispensable part of military campaigns. And artisans and farm work- ers had received ardent spirits as part of their wages.1) This intimate friend of Americans' was also the object of their curse. The warning against intemperance had been voiced as early as the start of colonization in the early 17th century, and it had been inten- sified by the sermons of such influential religious leaders as Increase and Cotton Mather. However, it was not until after the end of the War of 1812 that the temperance movement became an active concern of many a people. By 1834 there had sprung up no fewer than 4,000 to 5,000 local temperance societies throughout the nation with a total member- ship of 1,000,000 or more.2) In those early days religious leaders, especially those in evangelical Protestantism, were the main promoters of the movement. They advocated the possibility of salvation for all who repented, believed in God, and lived in sobriety. Arguing that 200 personal improvement was a sine qua non for solving the problem of intemperance, they took the so-called "moral suasion" as the chief method for achieving temperance. But after 1833 when the United States Temperance Union was organized, there emerged new leaders who had a different goal and strategy. Until then, the temperance pledge, in which fermented liquors were cautiously excluded, demanded abstinence from the only ardent spirits. New leaders proposed to add wine to the obnoxious liquor list, though it was clearly approved in the Scripture. At the same time, they abandoned "moral suasion" and began looking on legislation as the most effective remedy against intemperance. They accused not so much drankards as liquor dealers of social evils like poverty, viol- ence and insanity which in their eyes intemperance created. II The Early Temperance Movement in Maine It seems that the people in Maine consumed a surprising amount of spirituous liquor. Some contemporary observations will prove this to have been the case. One is by Louis Hatch, a historian of Maine: At the time of the separation of Maine from Massachusetts [1820],nearly every person in the new state drank liquors as a matter of course. The most respected people sold it.3) The next one is by Neal Dow, the father of the Maine Law of 1851: At the time of the admission of Maine to the Union and for thirty years thereafter, her people probably consumed more intoxicating liquor in proportion to their numbers than the people of any other state.4) We can see why drinking was so common in Maine by looking into the social and economic conditions at that time. Although settle- ment in Maine had been going on since the 17th century, extensive migration there had to wait until after the Revolutionary War. Most 201 of migrants came from either Massachusetts or New Hampshire and settled along coastal areas. They came mainly to engage in lumbering and fishing, two major industries in Maine. Since the colonial era, "huge evergreen forests were natural resources and the great river valleys connecting forest with sea were lifeline of commerce ."5) Those who worked in the lumbering and fishing industries in the northern part of the state were habitually heavy drinkers . Woodsmen, for instance, usually worked in winter in the frigid forests where they "cut pine logs , skidded them over the snow or ox and horse sled, and piled them by the riverbank." They drank spirituous liquor to warm up their bodies. In early 19th-century Maine, especially in the frontier northern and northeastern counties, drunkeness was a serious problem among the settlers: "all were poor, rum drinking was common, many were intemperance (sic), some were vicious and quarrelsome as well as drunkards, and there was no regular preaching."6) Politically speaking, in the early 19th century these northern areas were Republican and afterward Democratic stronghold . It was not accidental that the state legislators from there were adamant in opposing prohibitionism. During an anti-liquor campaign in the 1840's, Neal Dow cautiously excluded such northern counties as Aroostook or Washington. He might well have understood that he could do nothing but gather rowdy mobs against him . So one had to go down to the southern region of the state-Portland for one-to start the temperance movement in Maine. Portland was separated from Falmouth shortly after the end of the Revolution. With its naturally favorable harbor , it soon became the leading commercial center in Maine. The great majority of the town's people were poor as in other communities in the state . Yet, there were some wealthy merchants who built large and fine residences . There were also local distillers in Portland who catered to the demand of other towns in the state. Before and during the War of 1812, however, Portland experienced hard times because of its heavy depend - ence upon commerce. Under the emerging problem of intemperance and economic pres - 202 sure, the first temperance society in the District of Maine was organized in Portland on April 24 , 1812: "The Cumberland Society for Suppres- sing Vice and Intemperance ." It was locally called the "Sixty-Niners," because the number of its charter members was sixty-nine . By the end of 1813 it was followed by five other societies: those established at Saco, Bath, Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswells .7) All these communities were located in such western counties as York , Cumberland and Sagadahoc. Dow portrayed one of early temperance meetings: "Sixty -Niners" called their second meeting to consider what could be done to stem the tide of intemperance …This meeting was held in them ost famous old-time tavern in Portland … It was commonly reported•cthat, at this gathering, which was in the nature of a dinner or supper, liquors were on the table, and it was during the drinking regarded by the drinkers as "moderate" that these good citizens con sidered what could be done to correct the intemperate habits of the masses.8) This was the typical scene of an early temperance meeting. In the eyes of many contemporaries, however, the temperance reformers were self-righteous, because they tried to attack poor rum-drinkers and small retailers, while wealthy people continued drinking expensive imported wines. The temperance movement in Maine failed to gain wide support for more than 20 years since the formation of the first temperance society in 1812. At the end of 1831 there were only five states which had no state temperance society and Maine was one of them. Why was the temperance movement so sluggish in Maine? It was partly because of the economy of Maine-particularly that of Portland- which still depended considerably upon the rum industry, which con- nected itself with the traffic in intoxicants, and partly because of the lack of enthusiastic reformers who had statewide reputation and strong leadership.

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