Temperance movement

The temperance movement was a social movement that encouraged individuals to reduce or eliminate their alcohol consumption. The movement first developed in the early nineteenth century when alcohol consumption was very high in the United States. The movement continued in various forms until the 1930s, when the Prohibition era ended. The temperance movement received support from different social groups, including feminists, Christians, and business leaders. This wide range of supporters helped the movement last for decades—eventually leading to Prohibition, which made producing and purchasing alcohol illegal. Prohibition’s failure ended the temperance movement, though the effects of the movement lasted for more than a century.

Background

The period of US history from 1820 to 1860 has ben referred to as Age of Reform because of the numerous social movements that took hold in the country at that time. Such movements originated during the Second Great Awakening, a religious revival in the United States that mainly impacted Protestant denominations. Many Americans who became swept up in the religious revival believed that society, and individuals, could be improved with God’s help. This belief sparked a period of numerous social reforms throughout the country.

The Second Great Awakening inspired many people to reform what they saw as social ills. One of the primary targets for reform was slavery. This led to the beginning of a strong abolitionist movement. Before the Second Great Awakening, enslaved people, free Black people, and Quakers were the most prominent abolitionists; however, after the religious revival, more white Protestants began viewing slavery as a sinful practice that had to be irradicated. The reforms of the era also included improving living conditions for imprisoned or institutionalized people and expanding public education. Social reformers believed that creating a public education system would help educate a workforce for the growing manufacturing economy and would make people better Christians. Education reformers played an important part in helping to establish public schools throughout the country to educate children.

The desire to improve society spurred by the Second Great Awakening also made people look to eradicate the causes of people’s sinful or unlawful behavior. Many reformers believed that alcohol consumption contributed greatly to illegal behavior and society's problems. Therefore, reformers began the temperance movement in the hopes of reducing alcohol consumption and, the sinful behavior they believed it caused.

Overview

Alcohol consumption was commonplace in the British colonies and only increased after the American Revolution. Grain production skyrocketed after the war, with some of the extra grain was used to make alcohol. Drinking alcohol all day long was common practice at the time, in part because clean drinking water supplies were not always available. Although some wine and beer had little alcohol in them, people consumed them in such large quantities that they could become intoxicated. Furthermore, in the early nineteenth century, people living in the United States started to drink grain-distilled liquor such as whiskey more often. Historians estimate that about 1830--—the peak of alcohol consumption in the country—the average American adult consumed seven gallons of pure alcohol per year. The estimate of pure alcohol includes the alcohol content of all alcoholic drinks, including wine and beer.

With higher alcohol consumption, bad behavior attributed to alcohol also increased. As Americans became interested in improving society and ridding themselves of various social ills, they began to focus on alcohol’s role in society. In the early nineteenth century, reformers began to tout the benefit of tempering, or reducing, one’s alcohol consumption. As early as the 1780s, some Americans suggested that people should drink less alcohol. For example, in 1784, a doctor named Benjamin Rush published a pamphlet asserting that people should drink less hard liquor as it caused health problems and bad behavior. Rush did not suggest that people totally abstain from drinking alcohol, and he even recommended drinking cider. Rush was much like other reformers during the early years of the temperance movement who encouraged people to moderate their drinking rather than give up all forms of alcohol.

In the 1820s and 1830s, people signed pledges stating that they would reduce the amount of alcohol that they consumed, or agreed to drink beverages such as beer and wine in place of liquor. Groups that encouraged temperance originated in various parts of the country, and in 1826, a group of pastors formed the American Temperance Society with members from many local temperance organizations. Among the pastors who supported these temperance organizations was Congregationalist minister Lyman Beecher, who wrote numerous sermons, including “The Nature and Occasions of Intemperance,” asserting that “intemperance” was sinful and had negative social consequences. Beecher believed that people should not drink any alcohol, not just reduce the amount they drank. Beecher’s view became more popular after the 1830s as the temperance movement grew.

Members of the movement had numerous motivations for wanting to reduce or eliminate drinking. Pastors and other Christians were motivated by the idea that drinking alcohol was sinful or that drinking alcohol harmed people’s relationship with God. Business owners, such as John D. Rockefeller, supported the movement because they wanted employees to remain sober during and after work. The Industrial Revolution had created an economy in which more people worked outside the home, often producing goods in factories. People needed to be more alert while operating the modern machines in the factories, and alcohol consumption reduced alertness and coordination.

Women were another group who were supportive of the temperance movement. Men were the main targets of the temperance movement’s message, as men were more likely than women to drink. One reason for this was that more men were leaving their homes for work, giving them the opportunity to stop at pubs and bars to drink. Some women supported the movement because they believed that men should not spend time away from their families in pubs or spend their earnings on alcohol. Many of the women involved in the temperance movement were also involved in other reforms. Women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a crusader in the fight for women’s suffrage, also spoke about temperance and the effects that men’s drinking had on women and children. In an 1853 speech, Stanton expressed her frustration that men questioned whether women had the right to speak about temperance, “Again, in discussing the question of temperance, all lecturers, from the beginning, have made mention of the drunkards’ wives and children, of widows’ groans and orphans’ tears. Shall these classes of sufferers be introduced but as themes for rhetorical flourish, as pathetic touches of the speaker’s eloquence?” Although many women in the temperance movement were white, Black women also played an important role in the movement. In the north, Black women joined temperance organizations and worked with white women to advance their cause. Nevertheless, Black women in the movement were often segregated and faced discrimination.

After the American Civil War, the temperance movement continued to gain support. In 1874, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was formed. The WCTU supported the idea of outlawing the consumption and production of all alcohol. The Anti-Saloon League, formed in Ohio, was another organization that supported local laws banning alcohol sales in specific areas. By 1910, the Anti-Saloon League spread throughout the country and raised money through donations.

By the end of the 1910s, the temperance movement—which had become focused on the total prohibition of alcohol consumption and sales—had grown even more popular and throughout the country. In 1919, the United States the Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited the manufacturing, selling, or distributing of intoxicating liquor, though it did not actually prohibit the drinking of alcohol in private. The law went into effect in 1920. Although many Americans had supported Prohibition in the hopes of reducing crime and poor behavior, crime increased because of the law. Individuals continued to produce and purchase alcohol despite the laws, and organized crime flourished because of the lucrative practice of producing and selling “illicit” alcohol. Organized crime groups fought each other in the street in major cities, such as Chicago and New York. Criminals bribed police officers and public officials so they could continue their criminal activity unabated. The Great Depression started in the United States in the 1930s, and unemployment rose dramatically as stores and other companies shut down. Americans began to think that repealing Prohibition could add jobs. In 1933, the passage of the Twenty-First Amendment officially repealed the Eighteenth Amendment. The end of Prohibition and its failure ended the widespread movement to try to prevent alcohol consumption in the United States.

Bibliography

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