APUSH 4.11 - The Early Temperance Movement

Orgins (1800-1830)

What is abstience from alcoholic drink?

Temperance

How did the Second Great Awakening cause temperance?

• Moral reform: The movement framed social issues like intemperance as moral problems that individuals and society needed to solve through action

• Formation of organizations: The religious fervor inspired the creation of thousands of temperance societies, such as the American Temperance Society (ATS)

• Body as the "temple of God": Evangelist Lyman Beecher and others preached that the body was a temple of God

How did the Industrial Revolution cause temperance?

• Urbanization and social disorder: Industrialization led to crowded cities where problems like poverty, crime, and poor living conditions were rampant; reformers, often evangelical Protestants, viewed alcohol as a root cause of these social ills

• Workplace efficiency: Factory owners supported temperance because they wanted a sober, disciplined, and efficient workforce

How did nativism cause temperance?

• Linking drinking to immigrants: Some temperance activists used nativist arguments, stating that the drinking culture of immigrant groups was immoral and un-American

• Focus on urban areas: The growth of cities due to industrialization and immigration led temperance activists to view these areas as centers of vice and immorality, with alcohol as a major contributor to social problems

In the early temperance movement, who were hesitant due to concerns about infringing on personal freedom or disrupting religious traditions like the use of wine in Communion?

Catholics

Protestant churches were the core of the movement, driven by religious revivalism, while members of what emerging party strongly supported these efforts as part of a broader vision for a moral and modernized society?

Whig Party

Whose six sermons in 1825 were a major boost to the early temperance movement, arguing that excessive drinking was a sin with devastating effects on individuals, families, and the nation?

Lyman Beecher