The Temperance Movement

Ever since the birth of our nation, the United States has gone through various social and political movements; however, none compare to the movement in which our country—a country that was founded on freedom and choice—literally placed a restriction on the sell and consumption of alcohol. It is because of this that our group, consisting of Christie, Claire, and myself, chose to research the Temperance movement, while we each focus on a specific aspect of the movement that most interests us. While Claire focuses on the criminal aspect and Christie focuses on the racial aspect of the movement, I have decided to look into the religious aspect, as it is no secret that the temperance movement was deeply influenced by religion. After doing some
While the movement successfully met their goal of national prohibition in 1920, it took three full waves of the temperance movement to do so. The first wave of temperance began in 1784 and lasted until 1861, and unlike the second and third wave movements, the first wave movement advocated for temperance and levelness instead of the complete abstinence from alcohol, which later proves to be problematic. Although history has it that the first wave of temperance was sparked by Benjamin Rush’s 1784 piece called “An Inquiry Into the Effects of Ardent Spirits Upon the Human Body and Mind,” it wasn’t until the mid 1820s that the resurgence of the first wave temperance movement brought along a renewed interest in religion. It was through this newly formed interest in morale and religion that gave way to the formation of the American Temperance Society in 1826. Moreover, it was also during this period of resurgence that we begin to see Protestant and Catholic churches join the movement and promote temperance. Unfortunately, however, the late 1830s gave way to a split within the movement that caused tensions between the moderates and the radicals as well as between the voluntarists and the prohibitionists. The ultimate blow to the first wave movement, however, was the commencement
Once this period ends, however, we begin to see Americans pay less attention to racial equality and, instead, invest more time and energy into the second-wave temperance movement, primarily as a response to the increase in alcohol consumption by newly arrived immigrants. It was during this second revival of the temperance movement that we begin to see various temperance organizations flourish, such as the well-known prohibitionist Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Because of the strong correlation between alcohol consumption and domestic abuse, the WCTU’s motto came to be known as “‘Do Everything’ to protect women and children.” Moreover, because the majority of domestic abuse victims were women and children, the WCTU began influencing schools and colleges by having them use their anti-alcohol educational curriculum. Going back to the religious aspect, however, it is during this wave that the religious support grew increasingly from just Protestant and Catholic to now Evangelical. This religious aspect was even more pronounced and influential with the formation of the National Women’s Christian Temperance