Neal Dow Research Paper

Neal Dow was a man who contributed to many causes during his time. He was a general for the union during the Civil War and was also very active in the cause of abolishing Negro Slavery. He was also a presidential candidate in 1880 for the Prohibition party. “Among additional social causes, he interested himself in crime prevention, prison reform, and women's rights” (Neal Dow Prohibition Presidential Candidate 1880). The cause he is most known for is the temperance movement which is the movement against the consumption of alcohol. His work for the temperance movement earned him the nicknames Napoleon of Temperance and the Father of Prohibition.
Neal Dow was raised in a household of Quakers. All of his ancestors including his parents were …show more content…
After Dow was elected mayor again in 1855, he continued to fight for full enforcement of the Maine Law. The Maine Law allows towns to buy alcohol for medical purposes. In the spring of 1855, Dow had gone ahead and authorized the city to buy $1,600 worth of medicinal and mechanical alcohol for distribution to pharmacists and doctors. He was technically in violation of the law, since a committee wasn't appointed. News spread that Dow was storing alcohol in the city vaults which upset Portland's Irish population. That day, a small crowd began to gather outside City Hall; the men with the warrant showed it and demanded they could search the premise but they were refused. Within a few hours, the crowd grew to as many as 3,000 people, mostly Irish. They started throwing rocks at the building. Dow ordered the militia to fire. One man was killed and seven were wounded by police. Years after this event, called the Portland Rum Riot, Neal Dow was wounded, captured and promoted to general in the Civil War but, “the Portland Rum Riot ended his political ambitions. He never again held public office, despite running for governor and for the presidency of the United States”(The Portland Rum Riot of 1855 Ends a Teetotaler's