English 10
Mr.Middleswart, Mr.Viles
January 15, 2008
Temperance in Dixmont
Have you ever wondered where temperance came from? Temperance didn't just start one day there's a lot of history behind it. The definition of temperance is. abstinence from all alcoholic liquors. The most common type of people who believed in temperance were people from the church and grange people. The first movement of temperance started in Portland ME and was started by Neal Dow. Neal Dow found drunk children everywhere, along with men, and men weren't treating their families right or taking care of them properly due to all the alcohol. Big barrels of alcohol were placed everywhere throughout towns, with ladles for easy access. Children throughout the day would go and dip their finger in and lick it, as the day goes on the same thing happens repeatedly. The children's bodies were little and couldn't handle all of the alcohol. Neal Dow saw that this was a problem and tried to fix it by the temperance effect.Neal Dow was a prohibitionist in Portland, ME. Neal Dow was the mayor of Portland and help put together the "Maine Law". The following is the Maine law...
"The Maine Law"
The temperance movement had it's origins in Maine, and to one degree or another dominated the political life of this state for more than a century. (Patterson) This right hear means that Maine was the founder of temperance and when people followed they fallowed Maine.
The worlds first Total Abstinence Society was founded in Portland in 1815. A state organization of temperance societies was formed in 1834, and within a dozen years had developed enough political clout to force the enactment of a state law prohibiting the sale of alcoholic spirits except for "medicinal and mechanical" purposes (Patterson) This here means that the organizations had enough people and power to make a law that alcohol was only used for medicinal uses.
Under the fiery leadership of Portland's Neal Dow -Known Internationally as the "Father of Prohibition" Maine approved a total ban on the manufacture and sale if liquor in 1851.(Patterson) This is just saying that when Maine was under the leadership of Neal Dow that's when they totally baned alcohol.
This so called "Maine Law" remained in effect, in one form or another until the repeat or National Prohibition in 1934. (Paterson). This piece is saying that the Maine law came in many different forms for a long time.
Is temperance a law or was it an opinion? Temperance was a big thing in the 1800's and it was put into action thanks to Neal Dow. In 1851 -1859 Neal was the mayor of Portland, Neal saw a problem and wanted it taken care of so he made a bill that he wanted put into place, Neal took this bill to Augusta to see if it would be passed. The next day when the voted came in, the "house" votes were eighty-six to forty and in the senate the vote were eighteen to ten. That very next day the bill was passed and the "Maine Law" was put into place. On June 2,1851 the government put "The Maine Law" into act in 3 different places known as Europe, Australia and New Zealand. ("Bio of Neal")
Many other place had the "Maine Law" put into place in their area. For example, in Great Britain a man by the name of Joseph Livesey and seven of his co-workers signed a pledge stating that they would never drink again, and others around them followed. In 1835, the British Association promoted temperance. (Patterson) In Ireland Catholic priest named Matthew Theobald persuaded thousands of people to sign a pledge saying they wouldn't drink. The British Women's Temperance Association were another group who helped persuade many men to sign a temperance pledge. Quakers and the salvation army tried to get the House of Commons, which was a lower part in the UK Parliament, to limit the sales of alcohol. Many people said that they would stop drinking for good but couldn't stop and still continued to drink beer and wine. By the 1840's groups didn't just want a pledge saying that you wouldn't drink, but they wanted you to say that you wouldn't drink it for life or supply anyone else with alcohol. Another name for this is called teetotalism, which mean total abstinence from alcohol. ("Dictionary.com")
Have you ever thought how are laws today have come from or what they were like centuries ago? The effect of temperance was very great; to some people it was a big deal and it changed their life, and the people's life's around them. But for some people, they didn't care. The temperance movement helped put some people's life into prospective and others it just made them rebel against the law. Today there is not one extreme to another like there was back in the 1800's, where you could drink or you couldn't. Today we have a middle, if you are of age you can drink, but you have a limit to how much you can drink. If your not twenty-one you can't drink, it is against the law.
In the 1800's old building got used for a particular reason they were built for one thing and then were they used for other things.The temperance hall in Dixmont was a small church that was lit by three windows and was heated by a small wood stove, or what they would call a box stove. One small room in the front was a Sunday school library. The lower level was a horse stable when lodgers were using it, and afterwards it was used to store caskets and undertaker supplies. In the 1800's Dixmont had five different villages. The first one was Dixmont corner, the second was Dixmont center the third East Dixmont, the fourth Simpson's corner and the fifth one was North Dixmont. Temperance halls were turned into different things such as churches or or they were used to store caskets such as the temperance hall in North Dixmont after it's use as a temperance hall. Temperance halls didn't always stay in the same place, teams of oxen would pull these temperance halls to other villages near you and they would set them up and maybe move them around when the next person or village needed the building. Meeting of temperance were held on Simpson's corner for over thirty years, and they usually met in a barn. Here are some names that signed a temperance pledge in Dixmont.
Joeseph Arnold, David Simpson, William Tasker, John Littlefield, Margaret Craig , Stinson Peabody, Owen House
Edmund Mudgett and so on here are just a few to list off from the list. If you were caught drinking you would be treated poorly it was a big thing to be caught drinking you felt if not were alienated by the town during temperance. People were not allowed to drink alcohol but they were allowed to use it for medicinal uses only. Instead of drinking alcohol people would make hard cider and drink that; hard cider is a form of alcohol, but people got away with drinking it. The military boot camp had to barrels of rum,and while they were training they had that and would drink it. Nothing ever did happen to them and nobody has the answer of why, either. (Patterson)
Temperance was a big deal in the 1800's. Temperance was thought to be the devil and it could ruin peoples lives. Temperance means once again abstinence from all alcoholic liquors. This paper focused on temperance, what it is and why the movement was developed. Maine has changed a great deal since the 1800's, we no longer have people sign a pledge saying that they won't drink or provide other people with alcohol. In Maine today you are allowed to consume a legal amount of alcohol if you are of age, which is twenty-one, and alcohol is no longer thought to be the devil to every single person living in Maine anymore.
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