This paper explains that Neal Dow (1804-1897) was passionate in his tireless campaign against
alcohol; his Quaker roots led
him to create laws like the Maine Law that made it illegal for the sale and consumption of alcohol. The paper
relates that Portland, Maine, during Dow's formative years was a center of the rum trade with the West Indies, which affected the way local people viewed the use of alcohol, but young Dow's parties were alcohol-free and were still fun and he and his sister were still popular, key point that Dow believes shaped his life to be a prohibitionist. The paper relates that after leading the passage of the Maine Law, stopping the sale of alcohol in his home state of Maine; in 1852 and 1853, the states of Vermont, Rhode Island, Michigan, Ohio and Massachusetts all passed their own versions of the Maine Law; thus Neal Dow became a
celebrity for prohibition and began reaching the masses of people who felt the same way.