''The Pleasure Boat'' was a reform journal published in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, during the mid-nineteenth century by the Quaker reformer and journalist Jeremiah Hacker.

History

Over the first seventeen years of publication (1845–1862), it went by the names ''The Pleasure Boat'' and ''The Portland Pleasure Boat''; and some years later was revived under the new title '' The Chariot of Wisdom and Love'' (1864–1866). Hacker, after moving to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

in 1866, briefly returned to the "Boat" theme and published the short-lived journal ''Hacker's Pleasure Boat'' (1867).

Editorial stance

In all of his publications, Hacker was an outspoken journalist who promoted anarchist and radical causes. ''The Pleasure Boa''t railed against organized religion, government, prisons,

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, land monopoly, and warfare. It supported abolition,

women’s rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

, and vegetarianism. The newspaper was an early proponent of anarchism,

free thought Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other metho ...

, and prison reformer. Unhappy with how juvenile offenders were treated in the adult prisons, Hacker was influential in building public support for a Maine

reform school A reform school was a penal institution, generally for teenagers mainly operating between 1830 and 1900. In the United Kingdom and its colonies reformatories commonly called reform schools were set up from 1854 onwards for youngsters who wer ...

which became the third in the country, after

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. ''The Pleasure Boat'' was the earliest known vegetarian publication in Maine.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pleasure Boat 1845 establishments in Maine 1862 disestablishments in Maine Defunct political magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1845 Magazines disestablished in 1862 Magazines published in Maine Mass media in Portland, Maine Vegetarian-related mass media