Temperance Movement
What Exactly Was the
Temperance Movement?
An effort to encourage consumption
of liquor to a moderate consumption
of alcohol.
The first Temperance associations
began in New York (1808) and
Massachusetts (1813)
By 1830 , 6,000 local groups were
also established
Excessive hard drinking of
liquor was among women,
clergymen, and members of
congress
Even at weddings and funerals
drinking would cause chaotic
behavior
The cause of heavy drinking led
to many problems
Decreased efficiency of
hard labor
Threatened the safety of
the family
Temperance Society
Tried to force drinkers to sign
temperance pledge.
Used pictures and pamphlets to try and
get them to join the society.
Even created a popular temperance
song.
We’ve done with our days of carousing, Our
nights, too, of frolicsome glee; For now with
our sober minds choosing, We’ve pledged
ourselves never to spree.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDpGSVduq
l4.
It was impossible to eliminate liquor out
of people’s life by the eve of civil war,
women drank less then earlier in the
century and much less per capita of
consumption of hard liquor
Neal S. Dow of Maine “Father of
Prohibition” sponsored the Maine Law
of 1851.
Prohibited manufacture and sale of
liquor.
The north followed Maine’s example,
by 1857 a dozen had passed various
prohibitory laws alike.
A decade later some of the statutes
were declared unconstitutional.
Progressives felt strongly
about the anti-alcohol, or
Temperance movement since the
beginning making it a
national issue
It culminated with the
passage of the 18th amendment
which banned manufacturing
and consumption of alcohol
anywhere in the U.S.
21st amendment repealed the
18th amendment in 1933