The Drunkard's Progress (1846) by
Nathaniel Currier warns that moderate drinking leads to total disaster step-by-step.
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism,
and its leaders emphasize alcohol's negative effects on people's
health, personalities and family lives. Typically the movement promotes alcohol education and it also demands the passage of new laws against the sale of alcohol, either regulations on the availability of alcohol, or the complete prohibition of it.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the temperance movement
became prominent in many countries, particularly in English-speaking, Scandinavian, and majority Protestant ones, and it eventually led to national prohibitions in Canada (1918 to 1920), Norway (spirits only from 1919 to 1926), Finland (1919 to 1932), and the United States (1920 to 1933), as well as provincial prohibition in India (1948 to present). A number of temperance organizations exist that promote temperance and teetotalism as a virtue.
Context
In late 17th-century North America, alcohol was a vital part of
colonial life as a beverage, medicine, and commodity for men, women, and
children. Drinking was widely accepted and completely integrated into
society; however, drunkenness was not tolerated. In colonial period of
America from around 1623, when a Plymouth minister named William Blackstone
began distributing apples and flowers, up until the mid-1800s, hard
cider was the primary alcoholic drink of the people. Hard cider was
prominent throughout this entire period and nothing compared in scope or
availability. It was one of the few aspects of American culture that
all the colonies shared. Settlement along the frontier often included a
legal requirement whereby an orchard of mature apple trees bearing fruit
within three years of settlement were required before a land title was
officially granted. For example, The Ohio Company
required settlers to plant not less than fifty apple trees and twenty
peach trees within three years. These plantings would guarantee land
titles. In 1767, the average New England family was consuming seven
barrels of hard cider annually, which equates to about 35-gallons per
person. Around the mid-1800s, newly arrived immigrants from Germany and
elsewhere increased beer's popularity, and the temperance movement and
continued westward expansion caused farmers to abandon their cider
orchards.
Surprisingly, most supporters of the movement were heavy drinkers themselves, according to a study done by an insider. Attitudes towards alcohol
began to change in the late 18th century. One of the reasons for this
was the need for sober laborers to operate heavy machinery developed in
the Industrial Revolution. Anthony Benezet suggested abstinence from alcohol in 1775. As early as the 1790s, physician Benjamin Rush researched the danger that drinking alcohol could lead to disease that leads to a lack of self-control, and he cited abstinence as the only treatment option. Rush saw benefits in fermented drinks, but condemned the use of distilled spirits.
As well as addiction, Rush noticed the correlation that drunkenness had
with disease, death, suicide, and crime. According to "Pompili,
Maurizio et al",
there is increasing evidence that, aside from the volume of alcohol
consumed, the pattern of the drinking is relevant for health outcomes.
Overall, there is a causal relationship between alcohol consumption and
more than 60 types of diseases and injuries. Alcohol is estimated to
cause about 20–30% of cases of esophageal cancer, liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, homicide, epilepsy and motor vehicle accidents. After the American Revolution, Rush called upon ministers of various churches to act in preaching the messages of temperance. However, abstinence messages were largely ignored by Americans until the 1820s.
History
Temperance is one of the cardinal virtues listed in Aristotle's tractate the Nicomachean Ethics.
Origins (pre-1820)
During the 18th century, Native American
cultures and societies were severely affected by alcohol, which was
often given in trade for furs, leading to poverty and social
disintegration. As early as 1737, Native American temperance activists
began to campaign against alcohol and for legislation to restrict the
sale and distribution of alcoholic drinks in indigenous communities.
During the colonial era, leaders such as Peter Chartier, King Hagler and Little Turtle resisted the use of rum and brandy as trade items, in an effort to protect Native Americans from cultural changes they viewed as destructive.
In the 18th century, there was a "gin craze" in Great Britain.
The middle classes became increasingly critical of the widespread
drunkenness among the lower classes. Motivated by the middle-class
desire for order, and amplified by the population growth in the cities,
the drinking of gin became the subject of critical national debate. In 1743, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Churches, proclaimed "that buying, selling, and drinking of liquor, unless absolutely necessary, were evils to be avoided".
In the early 19th-century United States, alcohol was still
regarded as a necessary part of the American diet for both practical and
social reasons. On one hand, water supplies were often polluted, milk
was not always available, and coffee and tea were expensive. On the
other hand, social constructs of the time made it impolite for people
(particularly men) to refuse alcohol.
Drunkenness was not a problem, because people would only drink small
amounts of alcohol throughout the day; at the turn of the 19th century,
however, overindulgence and subsequent intoxication became problems that
often led to the disintegration of the family.
Early temperance societies, often associated with churches, were
located in upstate New York and New England, but only lasted a few
years. These early temperance societies called for moderate drinking
(hence the name "temperance"), but had little influence outside of their geographical areas.
In 1810, Calvinist
ministers met in a seminary in Massachusetts to write articles about
abstinence from alcohol to use in preaching to their congregations. The Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance (MSSI) was formed in 1813.
The organization only accepted men of high social standing and
encouraged moderation in alcohol consumption. Its peak of influence was
in 1818, and it ended in 1820, having made no significant mark on the
future of the temperance movement.
Other small temperance societies appeared in the 1810s, but had little
impact outside their immediate regions and they disbanded soon after.
Their methods had little effect in implementing temperance, and drinking
actually increased until after 1830; however, their methods of public abstinence pledges
and meetings, as well as handing out pamphlets, were implemented by
more lasting temperance societies such as the American Temperance
Society.
The first temperance society in Pennsylvania, of which a record
has been found was that of "Darby Association for Discouraging the
Unnecessary Use of Spirituous Liquors" organized in Delaware County in
1819, at the Darby Friends Meetinghouse. (Pg 20 Temperance Movement
Prior to the Civil War, Asa Earl Martin; The PA Magazine of History
& Biography, 1925 Vol 49 #3)
Promoting moderation (1820s–1830s)
The temperance movement in the United States began at a national
level in the 1820s, having been popularized by evangelical temperance
reformers and among the middle classes. There was a concentration on advice against hard spirits rather than on
abstinence from all alcohol, and on moral reform rather than legal
measures against alcohol. An earlier temperance movement had begun during the American Revolution in Connecticut, Virginia and New York state,
with farmers forming associations to ban whiskey distilling. The
movement spread to eight states, advocating temperance rather than
abstinence and taking positions on religious issues such as observance
of the Sabbath.
After the American Revolution there was a new emphasis on good citizenship for the new republic. With the Evangelical Protestant religious revival of the 1820s and 1830s, called the Second Great Awakening, social movements began aiming for a perfect society. This included abolitionism and temperance. The Awakening brought with it an optimism about moral reform, achieved through volunteer organizations. Although the temperance movement was nonsectarian in principle, the movement consisted mostly of church-goers.
The temperance movement promoted temperance and emphasized the moral, economical and medical effects of overindulgence. Connecticut-born minister Lyman Beecher published a book in 1826 called Six Sermons on...Intemperance. Beecher described inebriation as a "national sin" and suggested legislation to prohibit the sales of alcohol.
He believed that it was only possible for drinkers to reform in the
early stages of addiction, because anyone in advanced stages of
addiction, according to Beecher, had damaged their morality and could
not be saved. Early temperance reformers often viewed drunkards as warnings rather
than as victims of a disease, leaving the state to take care of them and
their conduct. In the same year, the American Temperance Society (ATS) was formed in Boston, Massachusetts, within 12 years claiming more than 8,000 local groups and over 1,250,000 members. Presbyterian preacher Charles Grandison Finney taught abstinence from ardent spirits. In the Rochester, New York revival of 1831, individuals were required to sign a temperance pledge
in order to receive salvation. Finney believed and taught that the body
represented the "temple of God" and anything that would harm the
"temple", including alcohol, must be avoided.
By 1833, several thousand groups similar to the ATS had been formed in
most states. In some of the large communities, temperance almanacs were
released which gave information about planting and harvesting as well as
current information about the temperance issues.
Temperance societies were being organized in England about the
same time, many inspired by a Belfast professor of theology, and
Presbyterian Church of Ireland minister John Edgar, who poured his stock of whiskey out of his window in 1829. He mainly concentrated his fire on the elimination of spirits rather than wine and beer. On August 14, 1829 he wrote a letter in the Belfast Telegraph publicizing his views on temperance. He also formed the Ulster Temperance Movement with other Presbyterian clergy, initially enduring ridicule from members of his community.
The 1830s saw a tremendous growth in temperance groups, not just
in England and the United States, but also in British colonies,
especially New Zealand and Australia. The Pequot writer and minister William Apess (1798–1839) established the first formal Native American temperance society among the Maspee Indians on 11 October 1833.
Out of the religious revival and reform appeared the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Seventh-day Adventism,
new Christian denominations that established criteria for healthy
living as a part of their religious teachings, namely temperance.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Word of Wisdom is a health code followed by the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
and other Latter Day Saint denominations which advises how to maintain
good health: what one should do and what one should abstain from. One of
the most prominent items in the Word of Wisdom is the complete
abstinence from alcohol.
When the Word of Wisdom was written, the Latter Day Saints were
residing in Kirtland, Ohio and the Kirtland Temperance Society was
organized on October 6, 1830, with 239 members. According to some scholars, the Word of Wisdom was influenced by the temperance movement. In June 1830, the Millenial Harbinger
quoted from a book "The Simplicity of Health" which strongly condemned
the use of alcohol and tobacco, and the untempered consumption of meat,
similar to the provisions in the Word of Wisdom revealed three years
later. This gave publicity to the movement and Temperance Societies
began to form. On February 1, 1833, a few weeks before the Word of Wisdom was published, all distilleries in the Kirtland area were shut down.
During the early history of the Word of Wisdom, temperance and other
items in the health code were seen more as wise recommendations than as
commandments.
Although he advocated temperance, Joseph Smith
did not preach complete abstinence from alcohol. According to Paul H.
Peterson and Ronald W. Walker, Joseph Smith did not enforce abstinence
from alcohol because he believed it would threaten individual choice and
agency, and that forcing the Latter Day Saints to comply would cause
division in the Church. In Harry M. Beardsley's book Joseph Smith and his Mormon Empire,
Beardsley argues that some Mormon historians attempted to portray
Joseph Smith as a teetotaler, but according to the testimonies of his
contemporaries, Joseph Smith often drank alcohol in his own home or the
homes of his friends in Kirtland. In Nauvoo, Illinois Smith was far less discreet with his drinking habits. However, at the end of the 19th century, second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Brigham Young said that the Saints could no longer justify disobeying the Word of Wisdom because of the way that it was originally presented. In 1921, Heber J. Grant,
then president of the LDS church, officially called on the Latter-day
Saints to strictly adhere to the Word of Wisdom, including complete
abstinence from alcohol.
Millerites and Seventh-day Adventists
The
founder of the Millerites, William Miller, claimed that the Second
Coming of Jesus Christ would be in 1843, and that anyone who drank
alcohol would be unprepared for the Second Coming. After the Great Disappointment in 1843, the Seventh-day Adventist denomination adopted health reforms inspired by influential church pioneers Ellen G. White and her husband, a preacher, James Springer White, who did not use alcohol or tobacco.
Ellen preached healthful living to her followers, without specifying
abstinence from alcohol, as most of her followers were temperance
followers, and abstinence would have been implied.
Teetotalism (1830s)
As a response to rising social problems in urbanized areas, a stricter form of temperance emerged called teetotalism, which promoted the complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages, this time including wine and beer, not just ardent spirits. The name "teetotaler" came from the capital "T"s that were written next
to the names of people who pledged complete abstinence from alcohol. People were instructed to only drink pure water and the teetotalists were known as the "pure-water army". In the US, the American Temperance Union
advocated total abstinence from distilled and fermented liquors. By
1835, they had gained 1.5 million members. This created conflict between
the teetotalists and the more moderate members of the ATS.
Even though there were temperance societies in the South, as the
movement became more closely tied with the abolitionist movement, people
in the South created their own teetotal societies. Considering drinking
to be an important part of their cultures, German and Irish immigrants
resisted the movement. In the UK, teetotalism originated in Preston, in 1833. The Catholic temperance movement started in 1838 when the Irish priest Theobald Mathew established the Teetotal Abstinence Society in 1838. In 1838, the mass working class movement for universal suffrage for men, Chartism, included a current called "temperance chartism".
Faced with the refusal of the Parliament of the time to give the right
to vote to working people, the temperance chartists saw the campaign
against alcohol as a way of proving to the elites that working-class
people were responsible enough to be granted the vote. In short, the 1830s was mostly characterized by moral persuasion of workers.
Growing radicalism and influence (1840s–1850s)
Sons of Temperance procession,
Hill End, New South Wales, 1872
The Washingtonian movement
In 1840, a group of artisans in Baltimore, Maryland created their own temperance society that could appeal to hard-drinking men like themselves. Calling themselves the Washingtonians,
they pledged complete abstinence, attempting to persuade others through
their own experience with alcohol rather than relying on preaching and
religious lectures. They argued that sympathy was an overlooked method
for helping people with alcohol addictions, citing coercion as an
ineffective method. For that reason, they did not support prohibitive
legislation of alcohol.
They were suspicious of the divisiveness of denominational religion and
did not use religion in their discussions, emphasizing personal
abstinence. They never set up national organizations, believing that
concentration of power and distance from citizens causes corruption.
Meetings were public and they encouraged equal participation, appealing
to both men and women and northerners and southerners. Unlike early temperance reformers, the Washingtonians did not believe that intemperance destroyed a drinker's morality.
They worked on the platform that abstinence communities could be
created through sympathizing with drunkards rather than ostracizing them
through the belief that they are sinners or diseased.
On February 22, 1842 in Springfield, Illinois, while a member of the Illinois Legislature, Abraham Lincoln gave an address to the Springfield Washington Temperance Society on the 110th anniversary of the birth of George Washington.
In the speech, Lincoln criticized early methods of the temperance
movement as overly forceful and advocated reason as the solution to the
problem of intemperance, praising the current temperance movement
methods of the Washingtonian movement.
By 1845, the Washingtonian movement was no longer as prominent
for three reasons. Firstly, the evangelist reformers attacked them for
refusing to admit alcoholism was a sin. Secondly, the movement was
criticized as unsuccessful due to the number of men who would go back to
drinking. Finally, the movement was internally divided by differing
views on prohibition legislation.
Temperance fraternal societies such as the Sons of Temperance and the
Good Samaritans took the place of the Washingtonian movement with
largely similar views relating to helping alcoholics by way of sympathy
and philanthropy. They, however, differed from the Washingtonians
through their closed rather than public meetings, fines, and membership
qualifications, believing their methods would be more effective in
curbing men's alcohol addictions. After the 1850s, the temperance movement was characterized more by
prevention by means of prohibitions laws, than remedial efforts to
facilitate the recovery of alcoholics.
Gospel temperance
By
the mid-1850s, the United States was divided from differing views of
slavery and prohibition laws and economic depression. This influenced
the Third Great Awakening in the United States. The prayer meeting
largely characterized this religious revival. Prayer meetings were
devotional meetings run by laypeople rather than clergy and consisted of
prayer and testimony by attendees. The meetings were held frequently
and pledges of temperance
were confessed. Prayer meetings and pledges characterized the
post-Civil war "gospel" temperance movement. This movement was similar
to early temperance movements in that drunkenness was seen as a sin;
however, public testimony was used to convert others and convince them
to sign the pledge. New and revitalized organizations emerged including the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the early Woman's Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU). The movement relied on the reformed individuals using local
evangelical resources to create institutions to reform drunk men.
Reformed men in Massachusetts and Maine formed "ribbon" clubs to support
men who were interested in stopping drinking. Ribbon reformers traveled
throughout the Midwest forming clubs and sharing their experiences with
others. Gospel rescue missions or inebriate homes were created that
allowed homeless drunkards a safe place to reform and learn to practice
total abstinence while receiving food and shelter.
These movements emphasized sympathy over coercion, yet unlike the
Washingtonian movements, emphasized helplessness as well with relief
from their addictions as a result from seeking the grace of God.
As an expression of moralism, the membership of the temperance movement overlapped with that of the abolitionist movement and women's suffrage movement.
During the Victorian period, the temperance movement became more
political, advocating the legal prohibition of all alcohol, rather than
only calling for moderation. Proponents of temperance, teetotalism and
prohibition came to be known as the "drys".
There was still a focus on the working class, but also their children. The Band of Hope was founded in 1847 in Leeds, UK, by the Reverend Jabez Tunnicliff.
It aimed to save working class children from the drinking parents by
teaching them the importance and principles of sobriety and teetotalism.
In 1855, a national organisation was formed amidst an explosion of Band
of Hope work. Meetings were held in churches throughout the UK and
included Christian teaching. The group campaigned politically for the
curtailment of the influence of pubs and brewers. The organization
became quite radical, organizing rallies, demonstrations and marches to
influence as many people as possible to sign the pledge of allegiance to
the society and to resolve to abstain "from all liquors of an
intoxicating quality, whether ale, porter, wine or spirits, except as
medicine."
In this period there was local success at restricting or banning
the sale of alcohol in many parts of the United States. In 1838, Massachusetts banned certain sales of spirits. The law was repealed two years later, but it set a precedent. In 1845, Michigan allowed its municipalities to decide whether they were going to prohibit. In 1851, a law was passed in Maine which was a full-fledged prohibition, and this was followed by bans in several other states in the next two decades.
The movement became more effective, with alcohol consumption in
the US being decreased by half between 1830 and 1840. During this time,
prohibition laws came into effect in twelve US states, such as Maine. Maine Law was passed in 1851 by the efforts of Neal Dow. Organized opposition caused five of these states to eliminate or weaken the laws.
Transition to a mass movement (1860s–1900s)
The Temperance movement was a significant mass movement at this time
and it encouraged a general abstinence from the consumption of alcohol. A
general movement to build alternatives to replace the functions of
public bars existed, so the Independent Order of Rechabites was formed in England, with a branch later opening in the US as a friendly society that did not hold meetings in public bars. There was also a movement to introduce temperance fountains across the United States—to provide people with reliably safe drinking water rather than saloon alcohol.
In the United States, the National Prohibition Party which was led by John Russell
gradually became more popular, gaining more votes, as they felt that
the existing Democrat and Republican parties did not do enough for the
temperance cause. The party was associated with the Independent Order of Good Templars, which entertained a universalist orientation, being more open to blacks and repentant alcoholics than most other organizations.
Reflecting the teaching on alcohol of their founder John Wesley, Methodist Churches were aligned with the temperance movement.
Methodists believed that despite the supposed economic benefits of
liquor traffic such as job creation and taxes, the harm that it caused
society through its contribution to murder, gambling, prostitution, crime, and political corruption outweighed its economic benefits. In Great Britain, both Wesleyan Methodists and Primitive Methodists championed the cause of temperance; the Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals was later established in the United States to further the movement. In 1864, the Salvation Army, another denomination in the Wesleyan-Arminian
tradition, was founded in London with a heavy emphasis on abstinence
from alcohol and ministering to the working class, which led publicans
to fund a Skeleton Army in order to disrupt their meetings. The Salvation Army quickly spread internationally, maintaining an emphasis on abstinence.any of the most important prohibitionist groups, such as the avowedly prohibitionist United Kingdom Alliance (1853) and the US-based (but international) Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU; 1873), began in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the latter of which was one of the largest women's societies in the world at that time. But the largest and most radical international temperance organization was the Good Templars. In 1862, the Soldiers Total Abstinence Association was founded in British India by Joseph Gelson Gregson, a Baptist missionary. In 1898, the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association was formed by James Cullen, an Irish Catholic, which spread to other English-speaking Catholic communities.
In 1870, a group of physicians founded the American Association
of the Cure of Inebrity (AACI) in order to treat alcohol addiction. The
two goals of this organization were to convince skeptical members of the
medical community of the existence and seriousness of the disease of
alcoholism and prove the efficacy of asylum treatments for alcoholics.
They argued for more genetic causes of alcohol addictions. Treatments
often included restraining patients while they reformed, both physically
and morally.
During the same period, there was significant pushback against
the growing temperance movement, particularly in urban areas with
significant European immigrant communities. Chicago political bosses A.C. Hesing and Hermann Raster forced the Republican Party to adopt an anti-temperance platform at the 1872 Republican National Convention with the threat of taking the German and European vote away from the party. The following year, Hesing formed the People's Party, a breakaway pro-liquor faction of the Republican Party, and elected Harvey Doolittle Colvin as Mayor of Chicago by a wide margin.
The Anti-Saloon League was an organization that began in Ohio in 1893. Reacting to urban growth, it was driven by evangelical Protestantism. Furthermore, the League was strongly supported by the WCTU: in some US states alcoholism had become epidemic and rates of domestic violence were also high. At that time, Americans drank about three times as much alcohol as they drank in the 2010s. The League simultaneously campaigned for suffrage and temperance, with its leader Susan B. Anthony
stating that "The only hope of the Anti-Saloon League's success lies in
putting the ballot into the hands of women", i.e. it was expected that
the first act that women were to take upon themselves after having
obtained the right to vote, was to vote for an alcohol ban.
The actions of the temperance movement included organizing
sobriety lectures and setting up reform clubs for men and children. Some
proponents also opened special temperance hotels and lunch wagons, and
they also lobbied for banning liquor during prominent events. The Scientific Temperance Instruction Movement published textbooks, promoted alcohol education and held many lectures. Political action included lobbying local legislators and creating petition campaigns.
This new trend in the history of the temperance movement would be the last but it would also prove to be the most effective. Scholars have estimated that by 1900, one in ten Americans had signed a pledge to abstain from drinking, as the temperance movement became the most well-organized lobby group of the time. International conferences were held, in which temperance advocacy methods and policies were discussed. By the turn of the century, temperance societies became commonplace in the US.
During that time, there was also a growth in the number of non-religious temperance groups which were linked to left-wing movements, such as the Scottish Prohibition Party. Founded in 1901, it went on to defeat Winston Churchill in Dundee in the 1922 general election.
Legislative successes and failures (1910s)
An 1871 American advertisement promoting temperance, styled as a fictitious railroad advertisement
A favorite goal of the British Temperance movement was sharply to
reduce heavy drinking by closing as many pubs as possible. Advocates
were Protestant nonconformists who played a major role in the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party adopted temperance platforms focused on local option. In 1908, Prime Minister H.H. Asquith—although a heavy drinker himself—took
the lead by proposing to close about a third of the 100,000 pubs in
England and Wales, with the owners compensated through a new tax on
surviving pubs.
The brewers controlled the pubs and organized a stiff resistance,
supported by the Conservatives, who repeatedly defeated the proposal in
the House of Lords. However, the People's Tax of 1910 included a stiff
tax on pubs.
The movement gained further traction during the First World War, with President Wilson
issuing sharp restrictions on the sale of alcohol in many combatant
countries. This was done to preserve grain for food production.
During this time, prohibitionists used anti-German sentiment related to
the war to rally against alcohol sales, since many brewers were of
German-American descent.
L'Alarme: société française d'action contre l'alcoolisme
was a movement in France, inaugurated in 1914, under the auspices of
the Ligue National contre l'Alcoolisme (French National League Against
Alcoholism), to bring public sentiment for increased restrictions upon
the liquor traffic to bear upon the election of candidates for the Chamber of Deputies.
So late as 1919, L'Alarme not only did not oppose fermented liquors,
but considered wine and wine-producers among the most powerful forces
against ardent spirits, to which the alcoholism opposed by L'Alarme was
considered to be due.
According to alcohol researcher Johan Edman, the first country to
issue an alcohol prohibition was Russia, as part of war mobilization
policies. This followed after Russia had made significant losses in the war against the sober Japanese in 1905. In the UK, the Liberal government passed the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 when pub hours were licensed, beer was watered down and was subject to a penny a pint extra tax, and in 1916 a State Management Scheme meant that breweries and pubs in certain areas of Britain were nationalized, especially in places where armaments were made.
In 1913, the ASL began its efforts for national prohibition. Wayne Wheeler,
a member of the Anti-Saloon League was integral in the prohibition
movement in the United States. He used hard political persuasion called
"Wheelerism" in the 1920s of legislative bodies. Rather than ask
directly for a vote, which Wheeler viewed as weak, Wheeler would cover
the desks of legislators in telegrams. He was also accomplished in
rallying supporters; the Cincinnati Enquirer called Wheeler "the strongest political force of his day". His efforts specifically influenced the passing of the eighteenth-amendment. And in 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment was successfully passed in the United States, introducing prohibition
of the manufacture, sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages. The
amendment, also called "the noble experiment", was preceded by the National Prohibition Act, which stipulated how the federal government should enforce the amendment.
National prohibition was proposed several times in New Zealand as well, and nearly successful. On a similar note, Australian states and New Zealand introduced
restrictive early closing times for bars during and immediately after the First World War. In Canada, in 1916 the Ontario Temperance Act was passed, prohibiting the sales of alcoholic beverages with more than 2.5% alcohol. In the 1920s imports of alcohol were cut off by provincial referendums.
Norway introduced partial prohibition in 1917, which became full prohibition through a referendum in 1919, although this was overturned in 1926.
Similarly, Finland introduced prohibition in 1919, but repealed it in
1932 after an upsurge in violent crime associated with criminal
opportunism and the illegal liquor trade.
Iceland introduced prohibition in 1915, but liberalized consumption of
spirits in 1933, although beer was still illegal until 1989. In the 1910s, half of the countries in the world had introduced some form of alcohol control in their laws or policies.
Association with independence movements (1920s–1960s)
The temperance movement started to wane in the 1930s, with prohibition being criticised as creating unhealthy drinking habits,
encouraging criminals and discouraging economic activity. Prohibition
would not last long: the legislative tide largely moved away from
prohibition when the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution
was ratified on December 5, 1933, repealing nationwide prohibition. The
gradual relaxation of licensing laws went on throughout the 20th
century, with Mississippi being the last state to end prohibition in
1966. In Australia, early hotel closing times were reverted in the 1950s and 1960s.
Initially, prohibition had some positive effects in some states,
with Ford reporting that absenteeism in his companies had decreased by
half.
Alcohol consumption decreased dramatically. Also, statistical analysis
has shown that the temperance movement during this time had a positive,
though moderate, effect on later adult educational outcomes through
providing a healthy pre-natal environment.
However, prohibition had negative effects on the US economy, with
thousands of jobs being lost, the catering and entertainment industries
losing huge profits. The US and other countries with prohibition saw
their tax revenues decrease dramatically, with some estimating this at a
loss of 11 billion dollars for the US.
Furthermore, enforcement of the alcohol ban was an expensive
undertaking for the government. Because the Eighteenth Amendment did not
prohibit consumption, but only manufacture, distribution and sale,
illegal consumption became commonplace. Illegal production of alcohol
rose, and a thousand people per year died of alcohol that was illegally
produced with little quality control. Bootlegging was a profitable
activity, and crime increased rather than decreased as expected and
advocated by proponents.
In the United States, the temperance movement itself was in decline: fundamentalist and nativist groups had become dominant in the movement, which led moderate members to leave the movement.
During this time, in former colonies (such as Gujarat in India, Sri Lanka and Egypt), the temperance movement was associated with anti-colonialism or religious revival. As such, the temperance movement in India became closely tied with the Indian independence movement as Mahatma Gandhi viewed alcohol as being a foreign importation. He viewed foreign rule as the reason that national prohibition was not yet established at his time.
1960s–present
The
temperance movement still exists in many parts of the world, although
it is generally less politically influential than it was in the early
20th century. Its efforts today include disseminating research regarding
alcohol and health, in addition to its effects on society and the family unit.
The addition of warning labels on alcoholic beverages is supported by organizations of the temperance movement, such as the WCTU.
Prominent temperance organizations active today include the World Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Alcohol Justice, International Blue Cross, Independent Order of Rechabites, and International Organisation of Good Templars.
The Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, a Methodist denomination in the conservative holiness movement, as well as the Salvation Army,
for example, are Christian Churches that continue to require that their
members refrain from drinking alcohol as well as smoking, taking
illegal drugs, and gambling.
In youth culture in the 1990s, temperance was an important part of the straight edge scene, which also stressed abstinence from other drugs.
Fitzpatrick's Herbal Health in Lancashire, England, is thought to be the oldest temperance bars and other such establishments have become popular in recent times.
In various parts of the world, voters continue to advocate for alcohol prohibition. For example, in 2016, many women in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu blamed alcohol for societal ills, such as domestic violence, and thus took to the polls to elect a pro-prohibition leader. Their effort succeeded and when Jayaram Jayalalithaa was voted in, she shut down five hundred liquor shops on her first day in office. In 2017, women agitated for temperance and the prohibition of alcohol in the state of Bihar; they campaigned for the election of Nitish Kumar, who upon the request of women, pledged that he would prohibit alcohol.
Since signing prohibition legislation, "Murders and gang robberies are
down almost 20 percent from a year earlier, and riots by 13 percent.
Fatal traffic accidents fell by 10 percent."
Beliefs, principles and culture
Temperance proponents saw the alcohol problem as the most crucial problem of Western civilization. Alcoholism was seen to cause secondary poverty, and all types of social problems: alcohol was the enemy of everything good that modernity and science had to offer. They believed that abstinence would help decrease crime, make families stronger, and improve society as a whole. Although the temperance movement was non-denominational in principle, the movement consisted mostly of church-goers.
Temperance advocates tended to use scientific arguments to back up
their views, although at the core the temperance philosophy was
moral-religious in nature.
The alcohol problem was connected with a sense of purpose and modernity
of the western nation, and was largely international in nature, in
keeping with the international optimism typical for the period preceding
the First World War.
Historical analysis of conference documents helps create an image
of what the temperance movement stood for. The movement believed that
alcohol use disorder was a threat to scientific progress, as it was
believed citizens had to be strong and sober to be ready for the modern
age. Progressive themes and causes such as abolition, natural
self-determination, worker's rights, and the importance of women in
rearing children to be good citizens were key themes of this citizenship
ideology.
The movement put itself at service of the state, but was also critical
of it. In that sense, it was a radical movement with liberal and
socialist aspects, although in some parts of the world, notably the US,
allied with conservatism. Alcohol was often associated with oppression: not only oppression in the West, but also in colonies.
Temperance advocates saw alcohol as a product that "... enables a few
to become rich while it impoverishes the very many". Temperance
advocates worked closely with the labor movement, as well as the women
suffrage movement, partly because there was mutual support and benefit,
and the causes were seen as connected.
Prevention, treatment and restriction
Temperance proponents used a variety of means to prevent and treat alcohol use disorder and restrict its consumption. At the end of the nineteenth century, medically-oriented treatment of alcohol use disorder became more common.
In a trend that was preceded by Rush's writings, alcoholism came to be
seen as an illness which could be medically treated. Scientists who were
temperance proponents attempted to find the underlying causes of
alcohol use disorder. At the same time, criticism rose toward use of
alcohol in medical care.
The notion of alcohol use disorder as a disease would only become
widely accepted much later, however, until after the Second World War.
Nevertheless, restriction of consumption was most emphasized in
the movement, though ideas on how to accomplish this were varied and
conflicting. Apart from the prohibition by law, there were also ideas to establish state monopoly on all alcohol sales, or through law reform remove profit from the alcohol industry.
During the 1900s decade, the ideal of strong citizens was further developed into the hygienism ideology. Through the influence of scientific theories on heredity,
temperance proponents came to believe that alcohol problems were not
just a personal concern, but would cause later generations of people to
"degenerate" as well. Public hygiene and improving the population through personal lifestyle were therefore promoted. A variety of temperance halls, temperance bars and coffee palaces were established as replacements for saloons. Numerous periodicals devoted to temperance were published and temperance theatre, which had started in the 1820s, became an important part of the American cultural landscape at this time. The temperance movement generated its own popular culture. Popular songwriters such as Susan McFarland Parkhurst, George Frederick Root, Henry Clay Work and Stephen C. Foster composed a number of these songs. At temperance inns puppet plays, minstrel acts, parades and other shows were held.
Role of women
"Woman's
Holy War. Grand Charge on the Enemy's Works". An allegorical 1874
political cartoon print, which shows temperance campaigners as virtuous
armoured women warriors, wielding axes to destroy barrels of Beer,
Whisky, Gin, Rum, Brandy, Wine and Liquors, under the banners of "In the
name of God and humanity" and the "Temperance League".
Much of the temperance movement was based on organized religion, which saw women as responsible for edifying their children to be abstaining citizens. Nevertheless, temperance was tied in with both religious renewal and progressive politics, particularly female suffrage. Furthermore, temperance activists were able to promote suffrage more effectively than suffrage activists
were, because of their wide-ranging experiences as activists, and
because they argued for a concrete desire for safety at home, rather
than for an abstract desire for justice as suffragists did.
By 1831, there were over 24 women's organizations which were
dedicated to the temperance movement. Women were specifically drawn to
the temperance movement, because it represented a fight to end a
practice that greatly affected women's quality of life. Temperance was
seen as a feminine, religious and moral duty, and when it was achieved,
it was also seen as a way to gain familial and domestic security as well
as salvation in a religious sense. Indeed, scholar Ruth Bordin stated that the temperance movement was "the foremost example of American feminism." Prominent women such as Amelia Bloomer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony were active in temperance and abolitionist movements in the 1840s.
A myriad of factors contributed to women's interest in the
temperance movement. One of the initial contributions was the frequency
in which women were the victims of those who had an alcohol use
disorder. At a Chicago meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association, Susan B. Anthony stated that women suffer the most from
drunkenness. The inability of women to control wages, vote, or own
property added to their vulnerability.
Another contribution was related to the role of women in the home in
the nineteenth century which was largely to preside over the spiritual
and physical needs of their homes and families. Because of this, women
believed that it was their duty to protect their families from the
danger of alcohol and convert their family members to the ideas of
abstinence. This newfound calling to temperance, however, did not change
the widely held viewpoint that women were only responsible for matters
which pertained to their homes.
Consequently, women had what Ruth Bordin referred to as the "maternal
struggle" which women felt was the internal contradiction that came with
their newly-discovered power to make change, while still believing in
their nurturing and domestic roles without yet understanding how to use
their newly-acquired power.
June Sochen called women who joined movements such as women's
temperance organizations "pragmatic feminists", because they took action
to solve their grievances, but were not interested in altering
traditional sex roles.
The missionary organizations of many Protestant denominations gave
women an avenue to work from; several all-female missionary societies
already existed and it was easy for them to transform themselves into
women's temperance organizations.
In the 1870s and 1880s, the number of women who were in the
middle and upper classes was large enough to support women's
participation in the temperance movement. Higher class women did not
need to work because they could rely on their husbands' ability to
support their families and they consequently had more leisure time to
engage in organizations and associations that were affiliated with the
temperance movement. The influx of Irish immigrants filled the servant jobs that freed African-Americans left after the American Civil War,
leaving upper and middle-class women with even more time to participate
in the community while domestic jobs were being filled. Moreover, the
birth rate had fallen, leaving women with an average of four children in
1880 as compared to seven children at the beginning of the
nineteenth-century. The gathering of people in urban areas and the extra leisure time for women contributed to the mass female temperance movement.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) grew out of a spontaneous crusade against saloons and liquor stores that began in Ohio and spread throughout the Midwestern United States
during the winter of 1873–1874. The crusade consisted of over 32,000
women who stormed into saloons and liquor stores in order to disrupt
business and stop the sales of alcohol. The WCTU was officially organized in late November 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Frances Willard, the organization's second president, helped grow the
organization into the largest women's religious organization in the 19th
century. Willard was interested in suffrage and women's rights as well
as temperance, believing that temperance could improve the quality of
life on both the family and community level. The WCTU trained women in
skills such as public speaking, leadership, and political thinking,
using temperance as a springboard to achieve a higher quality of life
for women on many levels. In 1881, the WCTU began lobbying for the
mandation of instruction in temperance in public schools. In 1901,
schools were required to instruct students on temperance ideas, but they
were accused of perpetuating misinformation, fear mongering, and racist
stereotypes. Carrie Nation
was one of the most extreme temperance movement workers and she was
arrested 30 times for destroying property at bars, saloons, and even
pharmacies, believing that even alcohol which was used for medicine was
unjustified. At the approach of the 20th century, the temperance
movement became more interested in legislative reform as pressure from
the Anti-Saloon League increased.
Women, who had not yet achieved suffrage, became less central to the
movement in the early 1900s.
Other causes
Prohibition
agendas also became popular among factory owners, who strove for more
efficiency during a period of increased industrialization. For this reason, industrial leaders such as Henry Ford and S.S. Kresge supported Prohibition.
The cause of the sober factory worker was related to the cause of women
temperance leaders: concerned mothers protested against the enslavement
of factory workers, as well as the temptation which saloons offered to
these workers. Efficiency was also an important argument for the government because it wanted its soldiers to be sober.
At the end of the nineteenth century, temperance movement
opponents started to criticize the slave trade in Africa. This came
during the last period of rapid colonial expansion. Slavery and the
alcohol trade in colonies were seen as two closely related problems, and
they were frequently called "the twin oppressors of the people". Again,
this subject tied in with the ideas of civilization and effectiveness:
temperance advocates raised the issue that the "natives" could not be
properly "civilized" and put to work, if they were provided with the
vice of alcohol.
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