The history of drinking in Maine and America is rich and complex. It began with the earliest European settlement, and it continues today. While the danger of drunkenness—to individuals, families, and the social order—was recognized from the earliest period, the use of alcoholic beverages has, at the same time, always found deep acceptance in our culture. Indeed, for the first settlers, strong drink was simply an ingrained part of the customs and dietary traditions brought from their homeland.
Over the next 200 years, alcohol would help shape America's social landscape. Taverns, as much as churches, became the centers of small town activity in the early republic. Generations of later immigrants brought new brewing and distilling traditions—the signs of their cultures and often the means to fortune. For women, the fight against alcohol abuse and other social ills in the later 19th and early 20th centuries led to a growing political, and professional stature.
Alcohol has soothed and troubled life in Maine and America in numerous subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Having outlawed its use in this country in 1920 and repealed that law 13 years later, Americans continue to debate its pleasures and costs. This tension, in fact, between approval and disapproval is a continuing part of its politics. Maine led the nation in the temperance fight; a look at its history might help put current issues in some perspective.