Antebellum reform efforts aimed at perfecting the spiritual and social worlds of individuals, and as an outgrowth of those concerns, some reformers moved in the direction of ensuring the health of American citizens.

The Temperance Movement:

• To many antebellum reformers, drunkenness (intemperance) stood as the most troubling problem in the U.S.

  • Eroded morality and Christianity.

  • Corrupted American democracy.

• Americans consumed huge quantities of liquor in the early 1800s.

  • Gin, whiskey, rum, and brandy.

    • Rate of consumption was the highest in American history.

• Antebellum reformers thus created organizations devoted to temperance.

  • Moderation or self-restraint of alcohol.

• Each organization had its own distinct orientation and target audience:

  • The Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance and the Connecticut Society for the Reformation of Morals 

    • Both formed in 1813 and were led by Protestant ministers.

      • Supported by New Englanders who clung to the ideals of the Federalist Party and later the Whigs.

    • Called on individuals to lead pious lives and avoid sin.

    • Called for a more restrained and genteel style of imbibing.

    • Aimed their efforts at the middle class.

• Presbyterian minister Lyman Beecher:

  • Delivered 6 sermons on temperance in 1825.

    • Published the following year as “Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance.”

    • Had a wide readership and support from leading Protestant ministers as well as the emerging middle class.

      • Temperance fit well with the middle-class ethic of encouraging hard work and a sober workforce.

  • Urged total abstinence from hard liquor.

  • Called for the formation of voluntary associations to bring forth a new day without alcohol.

• By 1836, most temperance societies advocated total abstinence of alcohol, also known as teetotalism.

  • Led to disagreement within the movement and a loss of momentum for reform after 1836.

• The Washington Temperance Society of 1840

  • Members of this society were called “Washingtonians.”

  • Led by people from the working class.

    • Women argued that refraining from drink would make the world a better place for women and children.

      • Alcohol abuse by men negatively impacted women by misdirecting the money necessary to support the household.

      • Physical and emotional abuse from inebriated men negatively impacted women and children.

  • Aimed their efforts at confirmed alcoholics.

  • Created a temperance revival in the 1840s

  • Members took a public pledge of teetotalism.

  • The Washingtonians turned temperance into theater by dramatizing the plight of those who fell into the habit of drunkenness.

    • Ten Nights in a Bar-Room 1853.

  • Sponsored picnics and parades that drew whole families into the movement.

  • The group’s popularity waned in the late 1840s and early 1850s.

    • Questions arose about the effectiveness of merely taking a pledge b/c those who had done so soon relapsed into alcoholism.

      • Still, temperance was a major political issue so many states passed laws regarding this.