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1-183 Maine - Birthplace of Legislative Prohibition
Vol. 1- No. 183
2004
Lead: Carved out of Massachusetts and born of controversy, the State of Maine early on exhibited a streak of moralistic reform. It was the first state to experiment with Prohibition. Intro: A Moment In Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Neal Dow was a man with a purpose. He was convinced that spirituous liquors were at the heart of violence and poverty in his state. Maine's two leading industries, logging and fishing, kept men away from the restraining influences of home and exposed them to temptation. The result was a population given to drink and neglecting their families and work. The Temperance Movement had been active in Maine before Dow began his crusade but its approach was moderate, permitting the occasional drink, focusing its attention on drunkenness and excessive behavior. Dow concluded that only total abstinence would effectively deal with the problem. He set out to bring the cold light of moral indignation against even moderate drinkers, and make the state bone-dry. Concentrating first on the City of Portland, he pushed through a vote restricting the sales of liquor and, when that practice continued, on the side engineered a public referendum for a crackdown on illegal sales. In 1846 he and his allies pressured the state legislature to pass a statewide prohibition law, the first in the United States. In 1851 gaping loopholes were removed and Dow, now as Mayor of Portland, went after demon rum with a vengeance. With the passage of so-called "Maine Laws," the national prohibition movement began to pick up steam and soon prohibitionists allied themselves with abolitionists if they were not already advocates of the end of slavery. By the end of the 1850s both groups were vigorous supporters of the new Republican Party. With the coming of war Neal Dow raised a Prohibition Regiment, the 13th Maine Infantry Regiment, and led them in several engagements. He was wounded and captured in 1863. After eight months in a Southern prison camp he was exchanged for a Southern general and returned a hero to resume the battle for temperance. Neal Dow died before his crusade won both its greatest victory and suffered its greatest defeat when in less than two decades the United States embraced and then spewed out Prohibition with the 18th and 21st amendments to the Constitution. The producer of A Moment In Time is Steve Clark. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts. Resources Blocker, Jack S., Jr., Editor. Alcohol, Reform, and Society: The Liquor Issue in Social Context. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1979. Clark, Charles E. Maine: A Bicentennial History. New York: Norton Publishing Company, 1977. Clark, Norman H. Deliver Us From Evil: An Interpretation of American Prohibition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1976. Kerr, K. Austin. Organized for Prohibition: A New History of the Anti-Saloon League. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985. Kobler, John. Ardent Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. New York: Putnam Publishing, 1973. Kyvig, David E. Repealing National Prohibition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979. Copyright 2006 by Broadcast Partners, LLC LAC012906
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