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Lot 64
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Neal Dow, "Father of Prohibition," ALS Condemning Kansas-Nebraska Act, Doughfaces, and Drinkers
Neal Dow, "Father of Prohibition," ALS Condemning Kansas-Nebraska Act, Doughfaces, and Drinkers
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Dow Neal



Neal Dow, "Father of Prohibition," ALS Condemning Kansas-Nebraska Act, Doughfaces, and Drinkers

 

2pp ALS inscribed overall and signed by abolitionist and temperance advocate Neal Dow (1804-1897) as "Neal Dow" at center verso. Written in Portland, Maine on March 21, 1854. On cream blue-lined stationery paper embossed "London" in the upper left corner. Expected light paper folds and staple holes at upper left, else near fine. 5.125" x 7.75". From the collection of William Wheeler III.

 

An incredible letter relating to two of the most significant ideological movements in nineteenth-century America--abolitionism and temperance--written by Neal Dow, a militant adherent of both.

 

Neal Dow, then in between terms as Mayor of Portland, Maine, wrote his longtime friend William P. Fessenden (1806-1869), who had just assumed his duties as U.S. Senator from Maine. The two men shared common values, chief among them abolitionism and temperance. In the late 1820s, both men had been cofounding members of the Maine Temperance Society.

 

In full, with unchanged spelling and punctuation:

 

"Portland

March 21, 1854

Mr Fessenden

Dear Sir - I am much obliged for the copy of your speech, though I had read before the newspaper reports of it - It is every way fitting to the occasion - has the ring of the fine metal in it - and gives universal satisfaction - more - gratification - to all your friends, of whom I am proud to be reckoned one.

 

In reading your speech - we see that there is really a North - and feel that its existence must be by and by, acknowledged by those who feign to forget it.

 

I cannot doubt that the generation of dough faces will soon pass away, and that the free North will be represented in the Halls of Congress by freemen, - sober men, at any rate. A movement is now in fact, which I think will accomplish that at least.

 

Very Truly yours

Neal Dow.

 

The Prest must be unhappy at the result of the Election in N.H. - If the Temperance men, had commenced operating Earlier - the democracy would have been entirely overthrown. On the 23d, I go on a mission of love to the democracy of Conn. for ten days. As I did to N.H. insame (?)"

 

Dow congratulated Fessenden on his "speech," which was almost certainly the inaugural senator's March 3, 1854 address to the U.S. Senate. In this speech, Fessenden affirmed Maine's commitment to abolition, and declared his constituents' opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill then being debated in the U.S. Senate. Moreover, Fessenden noted that Northerners, who had been more than accommodating ever since the 1820 Missouri Compromise, were tired of the Southerners' tactic of threatening to secede whenever they didn't get their way. Fessenden's speech electrified Kansas-Nebraska Act critics, but not sufficiently enough to prevent its passage in the U.S. Senate.

 

Dow's praise of his friend's speech demonstrates the extent of his own fervent anti-slavery views. Dow felt confident that doughfaces--those Northerners with Southern sympathies--would soon be supplanted by men of the right sensibilities--their sensibilities.

 

The meaning of Dow's postscript is not entirely clear, as there were no Congressional or gubernatorial races in New Hampshire in the fall of 1853. Yet Dow and Fessenden would have been ideologically, politically, and personally opposed to President Franklin Pierce (1804-1869). Pierce was not only a Democrat, but a slavery apologist and an alcoholic; indeed, he would die of cirrhosis of the liver fifteen years later.

 

A Maine Quaker, Neal Dow was also a tanner, politician, and temperance reformer. The hardline prohibitionist had become radicalized in his early 20s. He was elected president of the Maine Temperance Union (the stricter of two groups, which opposed both wine and hard liquor) in 1850. Once he was elected Mayor of Portland in 1851, Dow initiated the passage of the June 2, 1851 "Maine Law," which would prohibit the production and sale of all recreational alcohol in the state. Maine was just one of about a dozen other dry states (mostly in New England and the Midwest) passing prohibition legislation in the 1850s. Dow's sponsorship of the Maine Law, as well as his Draconian response to the 1855 Portland Rum Riot, launched him to the national stage. The so-called "Napoleon of Temperance" remained a controversial figure throughout the nineteenth century.

 


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