# Rum Riot

The Portland rum riot, also called the Maine Law Riot, was a brief but violent period of civil unrest that occurred in Portland, Maine on June 2, 1855, in response to the Maine law which prohibited the sale and manufacture of alcohol in the state from 1851. == History == The Maine law of 1851 outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcohol in the state of Maine, except for medicinal and mechanical purposes. In May 1855, rumors began to spread that Portland Mayor Neal Dow, an outspoken prohibitionist also known as the "Napoleon of Temperance", was keeping a large supply of alcohol in the city.