The Temperance Movement
by Keren B.
In 1918 Congress passed the 18th Amendment to the Constitution that banned alcohol, the transportation, sale, and manufacturing of all alcohol products became illegal. (2) Although the 18th Amendment did not last past the 1930’s, the decision to fully ban products that had been consumed for all of America’s history was a colossal occurrence. Ironically, years before “as the Puritans loaded provisions onto the Mayflower before casting off to the New World, they brought on board more beer than water,” as beer was a safer bet for their health in comparison to the possibility of drinking contaminated water. (3) So from its earliest days, America had been a land of substantial alcohol consumption almost more important than water itself!
Although the Puritans might have deemed alcohol more significant than water in their voyage to the Americas, alcohol consumption was not always a favored beverage, and the first “temperance association” was formed by 200 Connecticut farmers who banned together after hearing information that said alcohol was associated to a deterioration of health in 1784. By 1826, the American Temperance Society had been founded which was closely related to the Christian religion and those people who considered themselves ”religious and moral.” (3) After the Civil War was the notable period for when women began fully throwing themselves into a variety of reform movements, many issues were fought for at the same time, and some of these reform issues included women’s suffrage, fighting against child abuse, women prison reform, welfare, fighting against prostitution, unemployment, clean water, and of course the prohibition of alcohol. (4)
One of the largest women’s associations ever was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which had the most women members during the 1890’s. (4) In many ways they full heartedly fought the consumption of alcohol, but most interesting to me was in the ways that they targeted politics, as non-voting members of society, and the way they targeted the teaching curriculums in schools. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union consisted of women who typically were expected to exist only within the home as the “creators of comfortable and nurturing environment for their husbands and children.” (5 pg 80) In the political arena middle-class women used their images as keepers of their homes to fight against alcohol, as they termed their fight for the prohibition of alcohol as a form of “home protection.” (4) They said that alcohol was “the root cause of many social and urban ills as well as the source of domestic violence and unstable homes.” (5 pg 80) Thus, they took the roles they were assigned by society and used them to enter the political world, otherwise dominated by white males. Although women did not have the right to vote, many reached out into their communities and encouraged those who could vote to ban alcohol.
Another way that the women who fought for the Temperance Movement waged war against alcohol was by targeting what children were being taught in schools. The “mandatory temperance education” taught that “alcohol ruins the character, prevents men from obtaining good positions” and that those who drink are “careless, dull, and irresponsible.” Also “the nature of alcohol is that of a poison” and other things that seem extreme and unproven like alcohol “slowly change the muscles of the heart into fat.” (4) The ways in which these women educated others about alcohol do seem a bit extreme, as today we understand the difference between heavy drinking, which can be dangerous, compared to moderate drinking, which would not typically cause ones heart muscle to turn into fat. The long lasting effect that this had was that today in schools kids have to go through “formal drug education” (3) and organizations like MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is a legacy of Frances Willard, once the President of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. (4)
Other interesting facts I found about the Temperance Movement was that propaganda went beyond simply the political arena and the school curriculum and reached into Americans daily lives, exemplified through art work and songs that I found when doing the research. In a song from 1869 called “Who’ll Buy?” alcohol was described as an evil that caused many problems prevalent in society like murder, larceny, theft, empty pockets, and tangled brains, also implying that those who drank had no conscious, and a black soul. (6) In a picture found from the time, a man with alcohol bottles under him appeared to be in the midst of fires, murders, and other negative activities. () Beyond trying to separate what is straight propaganda from the truth, the women who spoke out against the evils of alcohol and their effects on their husbands everyday lives seemed to be successful and the Women’s Christians Temperance Union was very triumphant in being heard, which is incredible considering that women’s place at the time was in the home, and yet so many were stepping out of their normal roles and fighting for a variety of causes that concerned them.
Resources:
1) Murray, James. “Who’ll Buy” Pacific Glee Book Cincinnati 1869
2) The Library of Congress. “Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929”
3) Hanson, David J. “National Prohibition of Alcohol in the U.S.”
4) Griffith, Elisabeth. “Do Everything” She Said (www.nytimes.com) written Dec. 14th, 1986
5) Greenwood, Janette Thomas. The Gilded Age pg 80-81. Oxford University Press, 2000
6) Ardent Spirits, The Origins of the American Temperance Movement- A Virtual Exhibition
In 1918 Congress passed the 18th Amendment to the Constitution that banned alcohol, the transportation, sale, and manufacturing of all alcohol products became illegal. (2) Although the 18th Amendment did not last past the 1930’s, the decision to fully ban products that had been consumed for all of America’s history was a colossal occurrence. Ironically, years before “as the Puritans loaded provisions onto the Mayflower before casting off to the New World, they brought on board more beer than water,” as beer was a safer bet for their health in comparison to the possibility of drinking contaminated water. (3) So from its earliest days, America had been a land of substantial alcohol consumption almost more important than water itself!
Although the Puritans might have deemed alcohol more significant than water in their voyage to the Americas, alcohol consumption was not always a favored beverage, and the first “temperance association” was formed by 200 Connecticut farmers who banned together after hearing information that said alcohol was associated to a deterioration of health in 1784. By 1826, the American Temperance Society had been founded which was closely related to the Christian religion and those people who considered themselves ”religious and moral.” (3) After the Civil War was the notable period for when women began fully throwing themselves into a variety of reform movements, many issues were fought for at the same time, and some of these reform issues included women’s suffrage, fighting against child abuse, women prison reform, welfare, fighting against prostitution, unemployment, clean water, and of course the prohibition of alcohol. (4)
One of the largest women’s associations ever was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which had the most women members during the 1890’s. (4) In many ways they full heartedly fought the consumption of alcohol, but most interesting to me was in the ways that they targeted politics, as non-voting members of society, and the way they targeted the teaching curriculums in schools. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union consisted of women who typically were expected to exist only within the home as the “creators of comfortable and nurturing environment for their husbands and children.” (5 pg 80) In the political arena middle-class women used their images as keepers of their homes to fight against alcohol, as they termed their fight for the prohibition of alcohol as a form of “home protection.” (4) They said that alcohol was “the root cause of many social and urban ills as well as the source of domestic violence and unstable homes.” (5 pg 80) Thus, they took the roles they were assigned by society and used them to enter the political world, otherwise dominated by white males. Although women did not have the right to vote, many reached out into their communities and encouraged those who could vote to ban alcohol.
Another way that the women who fought for the Temperance Movement waged war against alcohol was by targeting what children were being taught in schools. The “mandatory temperance education” taught that “alcohol ruins the character, prevents men from obtaining good positions” and that those who drink are “careless, dull, and irresponsible.” Also “the nature of alcohol is that of a poison” and other things that seem extreme and unproven like alcohol “slowly change the muscles of the heart into fat.” (4) The ways in which these women educated others about alcohol do seem a bit extreme, as today we understand the difference between heavy drinking, which can be dangerous, compared to moderate drinking, which would not typically cause ones heart muscle to turn into fat. The long lasting effect that this had was that today in schools kids have to go through “formal drug education” (3) and organizations like MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is a legacy of Frances Willard, once the President of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. (4)
Other interesting facts I found about the Temperance Movement was that propaganda went beyond simply the political arena and the school curriculum and reached into Americans daily lives, exemplified through art work and songs that I found when doing the research. In a song from 1869 called “Who’ll Buy?” alcohol was described as an evil that caused many problems prevalent in society like murder, larceny, theft, empty pockets, and tangled brains, also implying that those who drank had no conscious, and a black soul. (6) In a picture found from the time, a man with alcohol bottles under him appeared to be in the midst of fires, murders, and other negative activities. () Beyond trying to separate what is straight propaganda from the truth, the women who spoke out against the evils of alcohol and their effects on their husbands everyday lives seemed to be successful and the Women’s Christians Temperance Union was very triumphant in being heard, which is incredible considering that women’s place at the time was in the home, and yet so many were stepping out of their normal roles and fighting for a variety of causes that concerned them.
Resources:
1) Murray, James. “Who’ll Buy” Pacific Glee Book Cincinnati 1869
2) The Library of Congress. “Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929”
3) Hanson, David J. “National Prohibition of Alcohol in the U.S.”
4) Griffith, Elisabeth. “Do Everything” She Said (www.nytimes.com) written Dec. 14th, 1986
5) Greenwood, Janette Thomas. The Gilded Age pg 80-81. Oxford University Press, 2000
6) Ardent Spirits, The Origins of the American Temperance Movement- A Virtual Exhibition
posted by Leslie Madsen-Brooks at 12:31 PM
6 Comments:
I have to disagree with the comment made about beer on board the Mayflower. It seems perfectly reasonable for more beer to be carried on the ship that water as it is an ancient beverage. If you can grow grain, you can make beer. However, I don't believe the same can be said for the purification of water.
See about. com for more details on the "invention" of beer.
in response to the comment about why alcohol caused such disorder, although its hard to seperate propaganda from truth, it seems as though the movement originated as a purely temperance movement, to control ones drinking, and as it progressed it became a movement taht said any drinking was bad. from what i have read about it so far, alcohol (for good or bad) was believed to have caused a lot of social ills, such as physical abuse within the home, being disorderly in public, it was a waste of money, etc. thus, to maintain their homes, women were allowed to step out and speak out against drinking because of the problems alcohol was supposedly causing within the home.
i also didnt and still dont knwo very much about beer, so it was my own personal opinion when commenting on how funny i thought it was that people would choose to bring more beer than water on a journey to a new place.
also in response to the comment about women in the movement, everything i had read about commented about middle class women who were a part of these movements. in terms of womens suffrage and other movements we have already read about it being a mostly white dominated movement that did not inclue other minorities, thus im inclined to say that this was a mostly christian white based movement and that the "average" person did not support the actual prohibition in the early 20th century because so many did profit from illegally producing and selling alcohol products. i do think that it was a mostly middle class white womens population that very smartly targeted the public through a variety of means, and their political means were successful as the prohibition amendment was passed, but in the long run it obviously wasnt supported enough by others because the amendment was repealed a few decades later.
another note... im not trying to say that most did not support the movement, just that there were those who didnt and it is obvious because those were the ones who were producing it and those who were creating a market for it so that it was a profitable thign to illegally make. also the way in which the wctu targeted the schools with alcohol "awareness" lessons didnt work because their goal was to teach kids early the evils of drinking because they were teh future leaders of america, but their plan didnt pan out because obviously prohibition only lasted for a few decades...
This is my comment. Nice post, Keren!
What happened to the ferver of the temperance movement as the drive to legalize alcohol gained momentum? Were the supporters of Alcohol more vocal, or were it's critics more quiet? With the temperance movement having so much momentum in the 19th century, why did they allow the drink to once again be part of american daily life?
I really enjoyed this post on alcohol and its effects on this society. A form of hypocrisy seems to be unveiled when you consider the people who write legislature to ban alcohol, are the very ones who may have brought it into the country. Given the under developed social structure of this time period (from a 21st century perspective) alcohol may have had stronger negative implications than it yeilds today.
Also, the fact that the legislative ban on alcohol didn't stand the test of time, may be a testament to America favoring "Wealth over Common Wealth". This is a very good post.
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