1800s Referenda: Licensing Innkeepers & Retailers | Preventing Traffic in Intoxicating Liquors

1847 | 1848 | 1849 | 1850 | 1853

Background

"Ardent spirits" and drunkenness were linked to a host of social, moral, and economic ills. In 1828 a Vermont Temperance Society was organized and sustained drives for statewide prohibition were under way by 1837. To achieve prohibition, temperance advocates looked to regulating the distribution and sale of alcohol through licensing retailers and innkeepers and limiting the amounts and uses of any alcohol they received.

Issue

The population was closely divided over temperance, with splits along regional lines and between larger population centers (pro) and rural towns (anti). At the January 1844 meeting of the Vermont Temperance Society the likely legislative opposition to prohibition was acknowledged and the Society called for the use of referendum, adopting the slogan "Let the people decide the great questions that concern the people" (the house was controlled by the rural towns).

David Ludlum, in Social Ferment in Vermont, reported county level referenda in January, 1845; citing newspaper reports he calculated that a statewide margin of eighty-three votes out of 30,000 cast favored licensing retailers and innkeepers as opposed to restricting licenses to the sale of alcohol for medicinal, chemical or mechanical purposes (Ludlum, p. 81; see also Act 15 of 1844).

Lax enforcement following the 1847 Referendum and general disregard of prohibition left both sides of the issue unsatisfied. The issue was taken up again in 1848, 1849, and 1850.

In 1853, following the State of Maine's enactment of law outlawing the manufacture of intoxicating liquor. Vermont's temperance supporters quickly moved to enact a similar law. Sustained agitation over temperance created splits within the State's political parties (notably the Whigs) at the same time antislavery sentiment was weakening ties to the national party organizations.

1847:

Referendum

On November 3, 1846 the General Assembly passed Act 24, "An Act Relating to Licensing Innkeepers and Retailers." The act included a statewide referendum at March town meeting, 1847, "and each year thereafter," with voters being asked to cast ballots for either "license" or "no license." If a majority voted for license, county assistant judges could license innkeepers and retailers to sell "distilled spirituous liquors, wine, ale, or beer (excepting small beer)" for beverage purposes. If a majority voted no license, the assistant judges "shall have the power to grant licenses only for medicinal, chemical or mechanical purposes" of alcohol.

The "no license" forces won by a 21,798 to 13,707 vote, with only Essex County voting for "license.”

Results

No licenses were issued for the sale of alcohol for beverage purposes. The law was not stringently enforced and was evaded in communities opposing the measure.

1848:

Referendum

At town meeting in March, 1848 the 1847 vote was reversed by a fourteen vote margin, with 17,278 voting for "license" and 17,264 voting "no license."

Results

Temperance forces, led by the Sons of Temperance, the Green Mountain Tribe of Rechabites, and the United Brothers of Temperance, renewed efforts to organize opposition in preparation of the 1849 vote.

1849:

Referendum

At town meeting in March, 1849 the "no license" forces recovered from their 1848 defeat, carrying the day with a 23,816 to 11,331 vote.

Results

Prohibition again returned (though, as before, small beer and cider were exempted). First judicial challenge to use of referendum emerged in Bancroft & Riker v. Dumas 21 Vt. 456 (1849). Vermont Supreme Court upheld referendum, ruling that it was not an unconstitutional delegation of the General Assembly's exclusive legislative authority.

1850:

Referendum

The Vermont State Archives does not have a record of the 1850 town meeting vote. Ludlum reports that the "no license" forces again won a "smashing" victory. The referendum vote is reported in the temperance paper, the Vermont Chronicle, February 22, 1853.

Results

Temperance forces, having won three of four referenda, moved to eliminate the annual referenda and establish a permanent ban on licensing alcohol for beverage purposes. They did so through Act 30, passed November 13, 1850.

1853:

Background

See referenda of 1847-50. In 1851 Maine passed a law outlawing the manufacture of intoxicating liquor. Vermont's temperance supporters quickly moved to enact a similar law. Sustained agitation over temperance created splits within the State's political parties (notably the Whigs) at the same time antislavery sentiment was weakening ties to the national party organizations.

Issue

The Maine law moved the debate from the sale of spirits for beverage use to prohibition against its manufacture. Vermont's population, already divided over whether to license the sale of alcohol, further fragmented over the question of banning its manufacture. After surviving a 91-90 house vote, on November 23, 1852 Vermont enacted the Maine-style Act 24, "An Act Preventing Traffic in Intoxicating Liquors for the Purpose of Drinking."

Referendum

Act 24 called for a referendum to be held on the second Tuesday of February 1853, with voters asked to choose between two effective dates. If a majority of voters voted "yes," Act 24 would go into effect on the second Tuesday of March 1853. If they voted "no," the act would go into effect the first Monday in December 1853. Since a new legislature would convene in October 1853, the understanding was a no vote would lead to repeal of Act 24 before its December effective date. This was the first use of the mechanism allowing voters to choose between effective dates.

The vote was extremely close, the early effective date being approved by a 521 vote margin, 22,315 to 21,794. There was a clear geographic split, with all counties west of the Green Mountains supporting the early date; of the eastern counties, only Caledonia approved (and that by only 28 votes). The margin of victory was supplied by the state's larger population centers.

Results

Despite the vote there was an effort in the 1853 legislature to repeal the act. That effort failed and Vermont became a predominately dry state for the next fifty years (an act passed in 1853 clarified that one could give alcohol in one's own home as long as it did not lead to drunkenness). The Journal of the House of Representatives of 1853 contains competing committee reports on whether to repeal the law (see pages 534- 554).

The new mechanism of providing a choice between enactment dates was unsuccessfully challenged in State v. Parker 26 Vt. 357 (1854).

The close vote had continuing political ramifications. Incumbent Governor Erastus Fairbanks, a "dry" Whig from Caledonia County, did not receive a majority in the 1853 elections and the general assembly elected the Democratic candidate who finished second in the general election (see Failure to Attain A Majority). In 1854 the Republican Party was formed, the Whig Party dissolved, and the Democrats were reduced to minority status for over a hundred years.