Neal Dow railed against rum, and we’ll take him at his literal word, even if many of his opponents were Irish and more likely to be whiskey enthusiasts.
One of those opponents-- or is victim more appropriate?-- was a tavern keeper known to sailors far and wide as Kitty Kentuck. Kitty Kentuck’s story is most thoroughly told by Matthew Jude Barker in The Irish of Portland, Maine.
Read MoreThe most famous rum-related event in Portland history occurred on this site on the evening of June 2, 1855. The Portland Rum Riot was an attack on City Hall that led to the death of one man, and tainted Neal Dow’s reputation, though it did not deter his crusading zeal.
Click on the title to view this post as a video.
Read MoreThe rise of rum production and consumption fueled a rise in reform that moved from gentle “moral suasion” to outright prohibition. In Distilled in Maine Kate McCarty quotes the Temperance writer Ernest Gordon:
Thirteen distilleries poured a flood of a million gallons yearly out. The population of Maine in 1832 was but 450,000, yet there were 2,000 bars at which intoxicants were openly sold. General stores retailed liquor as freely as calico.
Read MoreThe role of New England merchant ships and captains in the slave trade has been sanitized and over-simplified with the bland phrase “triangular trade.” Wayne Curtis effectively points out the degree to which it was a lie. However, the truth behind triangular trade was the source of Thomas Robison’s fortune. Ongoing research continues to uncover details of the slave-trading activities of his ship the Eagle.
Read MoreWhen the war ended, the Loyalist Thomas Robison returned to Falmouth. Among his other operations, he imported molasses, and distilled rum. In the first four months of 1783 his distillery produced five thousand gallons of rum. Robison’s operations were located here, on a parcel of land stretching from Congress (then Back) Street to his wharf below York Street. He bisected the property with Ann Street. Today it’s known as Park Street.
Click on the post title to view this entry as a video
Read MoreGreat Britain imposed a variety of measures designed to maximize profits for home-grown businesses and monetize the colonies for the Crown. Trade restrictions, and the Molasses tax, Stamp Act, and Sugar Act all increased resentment, smuggling, corruption, and rebelliousness in Maine.
[click on the title to view the video, or continue reading below]
Read MoreRead MoreI came to regard Portland – brave, generous, beautiful Portland – as unmatched and unmatchable; and so it is. Washed on every side by the open sea, draining itself, and looking abroad over sky and earth, as if anticipating the time when she will be taking toll, both ways, of the merchant princes, and the merchandise of the Orient and the West, and the riches of China, of India and Japan, shall be emptied into her magnificent harbor, and the population of whole empires flow through her broad thoroughfares.
“Take the best and most comprehensive definition of slavery, as you find it existing here, and you will be satisfied that one half of your whole white population -- that is, all your females, -- are born to slavery, that they live in slavery, and are dying in slavery….
They are taxed without representation. They cannot hold office. They are denied the right of suffrage. All their earnings and savings, after marriage, belong to their husbands, or masters, who make the law. They can neither acquire, hold, or transmit property, other than as their masters, the lawgivers, may prescribe (p. 50)
Read MoreAll rum-related blog posts owe a debt of gratitude to the folks at Three of Strong. Click on the post title to view the video, or read the text below.
The rebuilt settlement here, now named Falmouth, was concentrated between Fore Street on the waterfront and Congress Street (then Back Street) along the spine of Falmouth Neck. It extended eventually from about modern-day Hancock Street to Center Street.
Read MoreHis values in regards to visual art have much in common with those he expressed and practiced in literature. He favored a bold approach, a free style without too much polish. He advocated for an explicitly American art, an expression of the true American landscape and character.
Read MoreFrom 1816 until his departure from Baltimore for London in 1823 he “taught himself to read and write in eleven languages, published seven books, read law for four years, completed an independent course of law study in eighteen months that was designed to be completed in seven-to-eight years, earned admission to the bar in a community known for rigorous requirements, and contributed prodigiously to newspapers and literary magazines, two of which he edited at different points”
Read MoreThe first settlement by Europeans at what is now Portland was a trading post and village called Casco located on the shore at Clay Cove approximately here (Fore and India) in 1632. The founders, George Cleeve and Richard Tucker, undoubtedly brewed beer, and may well have distilled alcohol. If they had any rum, it would have arrived in a ship. Their contemporary, mariner John Josselyn notes “kill-devil rhum, ‘a strong water distilled from sugar canes’ enjoyed as a toast and as a medicine applied to wounds that wouldn’t heal” at the Richmond Island fish camp.
Read MoreCalling someone most folks have never heard of a foundation stone of American culture is a bold pronouncement. I intend to back it up by explaining Neal’s influence on American art and American literature, his influence on progressive causes of the 1800’s, especially feminism, and his role in bringing public gyms to America. I hope that when I’m done, you will agree that he deserves more knowledge and recognition, not just in Portland, but nationally.
Read MoreRepublican Political Control in Maine
Loopholes in Prohibition Laws
Today the irony of Neal Dow's prosecution for violating the Maine Law is well noted. It is not much emphasized that he was acquitted, in a court he helped establish and by a judge he helped appoint, with what amounts to an apology. Two or three years later Dow was nominated to represent Portland in the state legislature. His one-time enemies declined to nominate anyone to oppose him. He relates the incident as conveying a popular vindication and personal compliment.
Read MoreDiscussed in this post
John Robbins
Neal Dow
Politicization of the Events
Locating a Grave in the Eastern Cemetery
The dead man was John Robbins, of Deer Isle, Me. He was second mate of the barque Louisa Eaton, had come to the city on the day of the riot, and gone into the street in response to the fire bell.
Read MoreDiscussed in this Post:
Portland’s City Halls
Events of the 1855 Rum RIot
If you know Portland, you may be picturing our beautiful city hall as the site if these events. However, our city hall was built from 1909 to 1912. It was inspired by the New York City Hall and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Lead architect John M. Carrere considered it one of his finest works. But obviously it is not the site of the Rum Riot of 1855.
Read MoreDiscussed in this post:
Vote Suppression
Anti-Irish Sentiment
Irish Resentment
Some Details of the Maine Law
How did the Republican coalition win?
Our recent elections and court cases, and discussion of the upcoming election, feature political controversy about voter fraud and vote suppression; in 1850 an anti-Maine Law member of Portland's Board of Aldermen who had moved to Boston returned to assume the chairmanship and entered hundreds of "illegal" voters on the city's rolls. To counter that, In March of 1855 Maine passed two other pieces of legislation that gave the Republicans an advantage (and made the Irish feel unfairly targeted).
Read MoreDiscussed in this Post:
Politics in Maine in the mid-nineteenth century
A protest that turned into a riot
The Maine Law
Anti-immigrant laws, vote suppression, authoritarian government provoking violent protest, “alternative facts,” selective prosecution: issues from the headlines?
Yes, the headlines in Portland, Maine in the middle of the 19th century.
Read MoreDiscussed in this post:
What happened to the Tates
The despoiling of the Maine Woods
The Tate’s neutral stance was destroyed with the town center of Falmouth in Mowatt’s bombardment on October 18, 1775.
Robert had marched with a company of Minutemen to Lexington in April. Samuel took his family to London and continued in the mast trade. William and old George remained at Tate House. George continued to by and sell land.
Read MorePart 4: Run-up to Revolution
Discussed in this post:
The end of mast trade with England
The burning of Falmouth
Mast prices dropped, and Falmouth merchants chafed under British regulations. In 1774 the first Continental Congress adopted an agreement to import nothing from England after December 1, 1774, and to export nothing to England after September 10, 1775. In the aftermath of Lexington and Concord, the export ban was imposed immediately. In Boston Americans burned spars and other naval materials stored on Noddle Island. Meanwhile the back country rebels and the Falmouth merchants, realizing that navy enforcement depended on masts, cut off British access.
Read More
