Introduction to Temperance Movement
Discussion on assignment handouts and instructions
Reminder of previously covered information and clarity on instructions for the students
Overview of Stages of the Temperance Movement
Stage 1: 1820s to 1830s
Focus on the negative impact of drinking on "upward mobility," emphasizing how excessive alcohol consumption hindered professional advancement and financial stability.
Economic changes highlight dangers:
Dangerous machinery in burgeoning factories requires sobriety to prevent accidents.
Introduction of strict schedules and the time clock due to mass production, demanding punctuality and clear-headedness from the workforce.
Main strategy: moral suasion, which involves persuasion through conversation rather than coercion, appealing to individual conscience and societal aspirations.
Stage 2: The Washingtonian Movement
Emerges in response to issues from the 1837 Panic and subsequent depression, which led to widespread unemployment, poverty, and an increase in alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism.
Objective: to encourage individuals, often working-class men who were heavy drinkers, to take a pledge against drinking.
Message central to Stage 2: "drinking leads to ruin, poverty, and death," a stark warning aimed at personal transformation.
Involvement of employers: hiring policies contingent on sobriety ("I won't hire you if you drink") became more common, linking employment directly to temperance.
Characterized by moral suasion, yet moving towards direct pledging, often done publicly to solidify commitment.
Concludes that without regular follow-up and a more organized structure, the movement lacked coordination and sustainability, as pledges often faltered.
Stage 3: Sons of Temperance (1840s)
Designed to create structure, order, and discipline within the movement, mimicking fraternal organizations.
Features of the Sons of Temperance:
Weekly meetings with officers and standardized procedures, offering a sense of ritual and belonging.
Membership criteria demanded:
Healthy, white, employed men of good character, ensuring a respectable and reliable membership base for mutual aid benefits.
Establishment of community for newcomers in urban settings, offering a sense of belonging, support networks, and sober social alternatives to saloons.
By 1843, the economic revival allows more people to join, particularly as urbanization increases the need for social order and communal support.
Stage 4: Prohibition (1840s-1920s)
Transition from trying to convince individuals to controlling their behavior through laws banning alcohol, shifting the focus from moral reform to legal enforcement.
Prohibition becomes a political initiative led by the growing middle class, seeking to suppress alcohol use to maintain order and promote what they saw as moral progress and civic responsibility.
Rapid urban growth blamed for social disorder, with heavy criticism placed on alcohol for contributing to chaos, crime, and poverty in burgeoning cities.
Early legislative efforts, such as the Maine Law of 1851, aimed at enacting statewide bans on the manufacturing and sale of alcoholic beverages, setting a precedent for future prohibition movements.
Contextual Factors for the Temperance Movement
Urbanization Challenges
Rapid urban growth led to:
Poor infrastructure (sewage problems, crime, poorly maintained streets), contributing to unsanitary conditions and social unrest.
Development of slums and associated diseases like cholera and tuberculosis, exacerbating public health concerns.
Limitations in communication due to language barriers amongst diverse immigrant groups, hindering social integration and community-level solutions.
Saloons serve as the only gathering spots for the working class, fueling the argument against alcohol use by temperance advocates who saw them as dens of vice and political corruption.
Societal Impact of Alcohol
Alcohol seen as causing instability, particularly focusing on immigrant groups' drinking habits, notably Irish and German communities, who often had cultural traditions involving alcohol.
Connection of nativism and negative stereotypes regarding immigrants and drinking, linking alcohol consumption to perceived foreign threats to American values and social order.
Age of Association in the 1830s and 1840s
Reform movements proliferate, including orphan asylums, abolitionism, common school reform, and anti-prostitution, all aimed at improving various aspects of society.
Temperance movement noted as a part of broader societal changes, aiming to bring order to a rapidly changing landscape through voluntary action and moral suasion.
Voluntary associations emerge as community-building mechanisms as traditional rural supports dwindle, providing structure and mutual aid in an increasingly urban and individualistic society.
Logic of Reform 1800-1860
Key Themes of Change
A period characterized by monumental shifts:
Transformation in family structure and authority, with a shift from patriarchal agrarian households to more nuclear, urban families.
Decline of church influence in daily life, leading to a search for new moral anchors and community structures.
Economic instability noted through boom and bust cycles (e.g., panics of 1819, 1837, 1857, etc.), causing widespread financial distress and social dislocation.
Resulting chaos necessitated a reordering of both society and individual behaviors, with emphasis on self-control and responsibility as solutions to societal problems.
Expansion as a Central Theme
Types of Expansion
Geographical, economic, social, and political expansions discussed, all contributing to a dynamic and often turbulent national identity.
Link between reform movements and expanding societal needs as new populations seek regulatory frameworks and social cohesion in a rapidly changing environment.
Politics and Suffrage Expansion
Growth of Political Organizations
Shift towards expansive suffrage leading to greater political engagement among citizens, especially white men without property.
Influence of market economy altering political dynamics, creating new economic interests and demands for public education and social reform.
Increase in mass political events such as parades, picnics, and community gatherings to captivate voters and foster a sense of collective identity and participation.
Andrew Jackson's Presidency
Overview of Jackson's Rise to Power
Higher voter turnout in the 1828 election reflecting expanded participation and the rise of a more democratic, common man narrative in politics.
Jackson's image as a common man, a symbol of the frontier, and anti-elite sentiment resonated with many, portraying him as a champion of the ordinary citizen against entrenched power.
The Spoils System
Introduced as a political practice meaning "to the victor belongs the spoils," where successful political parties reward supporters with government jobs.
Aimed at fostering loyalty and efficiency within the federal government through patronage, though often criticized for leading to corruption and inefficiency by replacing qualified officials with political appointees.
Three Crises of Expansion under Jackson
1. Sectional Tensions and Nullification
Nullification Crisis surrounding the right of a state to ignore federal laws, specifically the protective tariffs of 1828 (the "Tariff of Abominations") and 1832, which Southern states argued unfairly harmed their agricultural economy.
Relationship between states and the federal government defined through legislative struggles and tensions, notably with South Carolina and its spokesman John C. Calhoun, who advocated for states' rights to nullify federal laws.
Jackson's firm stance against nullification, asserting federal authority and even threatening military action to enforce the law.
2. Bank War
Opposition against the Second Bank of the United States, viewed by Jackson as a monopoly benefiting the wealthy elite and Eastern capitalists at the expense of ordinary Americans.
Jackson's critique stemming from public discontent after the Panic of 1819; narrative revolves around the bank's perceived role in economic instability and its concentrated power under President Nicholas Biddle.
Jackson vetoed the bank's recharter bill in 1832 and subsequently moved federal deposits to state-chartered "pet banks," ultimately leading to the expiration of the bank's charter and a more decentralized banking system.
3. Native American Removal
Expansion into Native lands justified through manifest destiny arguments, rationalized as necessary for progress, wealth, and the settlement of white Americans.
This led to the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which authorized the forceful relocation of Native American tribes from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States.
Prominent examples include the forced removal of the "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole), culminating in the tragic "Trail of Tears" for the Cherokee Nation, leading to thousands of deaths due to disease and starvation.
Jackson famously defied a Supreme Court ruling (Worcester v. Georgia, 1832) that upheld Cherokee sovereignty, illustrating the federal government's disregard for indigenous rights.
Conclusion
A complex reflection of early American society through the lens of reform movements, urbanization, and emergent political dynamics as embodied in the presidency of Andrew Jackson.
Findings linked back to the prominent theme of expansion and its transformative impact on American identity and governance.