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Lot 69
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Neal Dow, "Father of Prohibition," Believes Nationwide Prohibition will be "impossible for many years to come"
Neal Dow, "Father of Prohibition," Believes Nationwide Prohibition will be "impossible for many years to come"
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Description:

Dow Neal

Neal Dow, Temperance Militant, Believes Nationwide Prohibition will be "impossible for many years to come"

 

4pp ALS inscribed overall by Maine statesman and temperance advocate Neal Dow (1804-1897), and signed by him as "Neal Dow" at the bottom of the last page. Written in Portland, Maine on July 6, 1858. On cream bifold paper with a blind embossed upper left corner. Expected paper folds, some well-worn and with minor closed tears. Scattered areas of discoloration or fading not affecting legibility of the text. Else very good to near fine. 7.875" x 9.75". A complete typewritten transcript of the letter is available.

 

An incredible letter written by Neal Dow, one of the American temperance movement's earliest and most militant adherents. Dow wrote the following letter to a British temperance activist referred to as "Brother Guild". In 1858, Dow had just been elected to the Maine House of Representatives after two tumultuous terms serving as Mayor of Portland, Maine. Dow's rather cynical view of politicians as "unscrupulous", "ambitious", and "corrupt" is thus surprising, himself being one of their number.

 

In part, with unchanged spelling and punctuation:

 

"I should very much regret it, if any considerable number of reliable friends of temperance and the Maine Law, should adopt the motion, that it would be well to modify our demands and change our purposes by asking for a 'Permissive Maine Law' - to go into operation only in those counties, cities, towns, villages and wards, where it should be accepted by a majority of votes. Such a measure is a very wise one for Great Britain, but would be most unwise in any of our states where the temperance reform has made any considerable progress.

 

If a Maine Law for this county could only be enacted by Congress, I should approve the proposition of a Permissive Bill - for it is very easy to see that the positive enactment of entire Prohibition by one Congress to operate uniformly over the whole country would be impossible for many years to come.

 

The case of Great Britain is like that - the population of the United Kingdom is larger than that of the United States - and comprises from distinct peoples - different in language, manners, habits, religious notions and social customs - In some parts of that country, the people know little and care less about temperance - in many other parts, the cause has made much progress - and in some localities the majority of the people are already prepared for such a measure.

 

Our friends in England therefore have wisely devised the scheme of a permissive Law, being a mode of legislation well known among them…The proposition is to apply that principle to grog shops - and by Act of Parliament prevent any city, town, burough, county, to exclude those nuisances entirely if the voters so determine.

 

If such a law were passed, our friends in England would have an important object of immediate good to strive for…

 

And I know very well by actual experiment, that the prejudices of English workingmen may be easily overcome, and that they may be brought in great Masses to go heartily for protection to themselves and their children from the grog shops.

 

As to New York, a Maine Law may be as easily enacted and sustained there as in Maine, if the friends of the measure would but affect their independence of the politicians, as we do in this state, and not permit themselves to be yoked and driven by these men, as so many oxen, merely for their own selfish and ambitious purposes. In Maine, we constitute, as the temperance men in New York do - a large majority of the Republican party. We take the trouble - for the good of the cause, to see to it that the proper men are nominated - and then we elect them. We do not stand aloof and permit the whole thing to be  managed by a few unscrupulous and corrupt wire pullers, but we manage them ourselves - at the same time conceding everything but principle for the sake of harmony and conciliation.

 

We will not vote for anti temperance men; the politicians are fully aware of the fact and dare not resist the resolute determination of the temperance men to have protection from the Rum Traffic.

 

The temperance men of New York are numerous and influential enough to have everything their own way, if they choose to take the trouble and perform the labor and they cannot accomplish their object on any other terms. The feeling of your people on this subject was clearly indicated some years ago by a popular vote on license and prohibition, when license was defeated by a very large majority - The same thing can be done again. No brave and true man will whiningly call on profiter (?) for help, until he has first put his own shoulder to the wheel…"

 

In the letter, Dow distinguishes between the "Maine Law" and the "Permissive Maine Law". In his first term as Mayor of Portland, Dow had initiated the passage of the Maine Law, approved by Maine's Congress and signed into legislation by Maine's Governor John Hubbard (1794-1869) on June 2, 1851. This legislation prohibited 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. The "Permissive Maine Law", in contrast, would allow any polity to determine by majority vote whether recreational alcohol could be prohibited. In theory, it offered voluntary as opposed to involuntary teetotalism.

 

The temperance movement in Great Britain was similar to its American counterpart in its origins, participants, and aims, though it was less successful. British temperance activists were inspired by Dow's 1851 Maine Law to form the United Kingdom Alliance, a prohibitionist group, in 1853. Four years later, in 1857, the United Kingdom Alliance invited Dow to lecture in Great Britain; Dow's correspondent "Brother Guild" was almost certainly a British acquaintance from that tour. Despite British temperance advocates' best efforts, however, temperance measures such as restricted Sunday hours for the purchase of alcohol were repealed and voted down in Parliament. Prohibition measures in the United Kingdom encountered much more resistance than in the United States.

 

Neal Dow, a Maine Quaker and 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. 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.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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