[Temperance] Rare Prohibition Broadside for the "Maine Law", the First Statewide Prohibition law in the United States

Worcester County, Massachusetts, ca. 1851. Printed broadside in two columns, signed in type by Edward W. Lincoln and Truman G. Bancroft; 21 3/8 x 9 in. (543 x 229 mm).

A rare prohibition broadside addressing the electors of Worcester County in regards to the passing of the "Maine Law": the first statewide prohibition law in the United States.

Passed in 1851 in the state of Maine under the leadership of Neal Dow (considered the "Napoleon of Temperance"), the law prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages except for medicinal, mechanical, or sacramental purposes. In this address, the president of the Liberal Union writes a scathing letter: "We claim to be 'protected in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, according to standing laws,' instead of being continually harassed, by the government for whose support we are taxed, with violent and tyrannical measures to strip us of each and all..." He goes on, "This Maine Law! is not the crowning glory of a republic!...Observation has shown that its noisiest advocates are the least sincere friends of Temperance, when the great cause requires of them individual abstinence..."

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How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

[Temperance] Rare Prohibition Broadside for the "Maine Law", the First Statewide Prohibition law in the United States

How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

[Temperance] Rare Prohibition Broadside for the "Maine Law", the First Statewide Prohibition law in the United States

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