In a decade marked by the increasingly contentious political question of slavery, temperance was also a deeply divisive political and social issue. Politicians and citizens hotly debated the passage of "Maine laws" that outlawed the use of alcohol (named after the first state to pass such a law). Between 1851 and 1855, twelve states passed laws completely prohibiting alcohol and two others passed restrictive laws that stopped short of total prohibition. This editorial from the Worcester, Massachusetts Daily Evening Journal linked alcohol to all manner of crime and immoral behavior and urged voters that the only way to combat vice was at the ballot box.