Becoming American

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The remarkably transformative years preceding the American Civil War had a profound impact on the Irish community in Portland, Maine. That era included the temperance crusade, the Irish Repeal Society, the Great Hunger (the Great Famine), intense Irish immigration, prohibition and the fanatical battle Neal Dow fought against King Alcohol, the Portland Company, the railroad, the sugar industry, the connection via steamers between the city and Great Britain, the Know-Nothing nativist menace, abolition, the rise of the Republicans and their battles with Democrats, the "Rum Riot," - all contributing to the assimilation and rise of the Irish in Portland, Maine.