The Acquisitions Table: No License

No license. A question to be settled in the State of New York. New York: Journal of the American Temperance Union, 1846. On linen.

This textile broadside was issued as an extra to the Journal of the American Temperance Union during the 1846 elections in New York State.  That year, every one of the 800+ towns in the state (excepting New York City) was required to vote on whether they would require local merchants to have licenses to sell hard liquor.  If the “No License” laws passed in a town, then local officials would not be permitted to issue permissions for the sale of alcohol.  This broadside falls solidly on the “No License” side of the question and reprints several poems, lists of statistics, and stories all with a strong pro-temperance message.

Published by

Lauren Hewes

Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts, American Antiquarian Society

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