Prohibition Signed Docs & Ephemera Lot - Prohibitionists Neal Dow, Cannon, Etc.
A large lot of documents and ephemera from the 19th and 20th Centuries related to the prohibition movement. Included in this lot are signed letters from noted prohibitionists and politicians.
Items include:
- A prohibition-era letter signed by Joseph Gurney Cannon to the wife of Congressman William Rodenberg, thanking them for a
"suspicious looking package" they sent him that he will not submit to
Mr. Volstead to determine its alcohol content. Written on Cannon's
official House of Representatives stationary. Cannon was an American politician from Illinois and leader of the Republican Party. Cannon represented parts of Illinois in the United States House of Representatives for twenty-three non-consecutive terms between 1873 and 1923; upon his retirement, he was the longest-serving member of the United States Congress ever. From 1903 to 1911, he presided as Speaker of the House, becoming the most powerful speaker in United States history.
- A small handwritten and signed note by Neal Dow thanking an unnamed man for "your kind and cordial note." Neal Dow (March 20, 1804 – October 2, 1897) was an American Prohibition advocate and politician. Nicknamed the "Napoleon of Temperance" and the "Father of Prohibition", Dow was born to a Quaker family in Portland, Maine. From a young age, he believed alcohol to be the cause of many of society's problems and wanted to ban it through legislation. In 1850, Dow was elected president of the Maine Temperance Union, and the next year he was elected mayor of Portland. Soon after, largely due to Dow's efforts, the state legislature banned the sale and production of alcohol in what became known as the Maine law. Serving twice as mayor of Portland, Dow enforced the law with vigor and called for increasingly harsh penalties for violators. In 1855, his opponents rioted and he ordered the state militia to fire on the crowd. One man was killed and several wounded, and when public reaction to the violence turned against Dow, he chose not to seek reelection. Dow was later elected to two terms in the Maine House of Representatives, but retired after a financial scandal. He joined the Union Army shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, eventually attaining the rank of brigadier general. He was wounded at the siege of Port Hudson and later captured. After being exchanged for another officer in 1864, Dow resigned from the military and devoted himself once more to prohibition. He spoke across the United States, Canada, and Great Britain in support of the cause. In 1880, Dow headed the Prohibition Party ticket for President of the United States. After losing the election, he continued to write and speak on behalf of the prohibition movement for the rest of his life until his death in Portland at the age of 93.
- A small handwritten and signed note by Timothy Arthur to one-time Pennsylvania Governor S.W. Pennypacker. Timothy Shay Arthur (June 6, 1809 – March 6, 1885) — known as T. S. Arthur — was a popular 19th-century American author. He is famously known for his temperance novel Ten Nights in a Bar-Room and What I Saw There (1854), which helped demonize alcohol in the eyes of the American public.
- A handwritten and signed note by John Pierce St. John asking the postmaster of Evanston, Ill, to forward his mail. (February 25, 1833 - August 31, 1916) was an American politician who served as the eighth Governor of Kansas and later served as the Prohibition presidential nominee in 1884. Under his tenure as governor Kansas became the third state to enact a statewide prohibition of alcohol which would last until 1948 and remain in some form until 1987. After leaving elected office he maintained his position in the Prohibition Party and remained active in the party's presidential politics and was a major figure in the party schism during the 1896 presidential election.
- Multiple signed letters from distillers, brewers, and manufacturers of alcohol regarding the production and sale of alcohol.
- Pamphlets, booklets, envelopes, and other ephemera related to the prohibition movement.
Please review all photos carefully to see a complete inventory of what's included as well as the condition of all the items.
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