The Temperance Movement and Its Influence on America

‘Lips That Touch Liquor Shall Never Touch Mine’

A Lithograph supporting the temperance movement, "The Drunkard's Progress: From the First Glass to the Grave," circa 1846, by Nathaniel Currier. Library of Congress. Public Domain

Mention Prohibition and anyone familiar with American history will likely think of the Roaring Twenties, of bootleggers and rumrunners, speakeasies and bathtub gin, of Eliot Ness and Al Capone. Some may recollect that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, enacted in 1919, was the foundation stone of this clampdown on spirits, wine, and beer. The 1919 National Prohibition Act, also called the Volstead Act after one of its major supporters in Congress, was then enacted to enforce the amendment. Blamed for the rise of mob crime in the United States, and with many Americans unhappy with the rigid laws, the 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933 by the states.

What fewer people may realize is that the forces which had brought about Prohibition had deep roots in the American past. These had emerged nearly a century earlier, in the 1820s, and though this temperance movement fluctuated at times in membership and influence, it had continued throughout the 19th century, calling first for moderation and then for abstinence in the use of alcoholic beverages.

History textbooks list various impulses driving this movement. Anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiments, a rural dislike of big-city dwellers, and the religious fervor born of the Second Great Awakening are often cited, and perhaps rightly so, on such inventories.

But by far, the chief impetus behind the temperance movement was much closer to home: An enormous number of American husbands and fathers drank like fish.

Shaking Hands With John Barleycorn

"Temperance Lecture," 1861, by Edward Edmondson, Jr. Oil on canvas. Dayton Art Institute, Ohio. Public Domain

Search online for “Did 19th-century American men drink more liquor than today?” and website after website answers that question in the affirmative. The National Archives site includes an article titled “Spirited Republic,” in which author Bruce Bustard writes: “In 1790, we consumed an average of 5.8 gallons of absolute alcohol annually for each drinking-age individual. By 1830, that figure rose to 7.1 gallons! Today, in contrast, Americans consume about 2.3 gallons of absolute alcohol in a year.” Bear in mind that “absolute alcohol” means liquid alcohol that is 99 percent alcohol.

At the time, to down a beer with breakfast, the same or spirits for lunch, a pick-me-up in the afternoon, and an evening of drinking both during and after supper was not at all extraordinary. Supplies of water were often unsanitary, and alcoholic beverages could be easily made at home. Farmers often distilled liquor from corn for consumption and for sale—an excise tax on this product was the cause of the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. George Washington himself, whose government put down this first test of the federal power, owned and maintained one of the largest American distilleries of the time at Mount Vernon.

This alcohol-soaked culture unleashed a counterforce driven overwhelmingly by women, with broader consequences that no one then could have imagined.

An Army on the March

"The Ohio Whiskey War: The Ladies of Logan Singing Hymns in Front of Barrooms in Aid of the Temperance Movement," 1874, by S.B. Morton. Library of Congress. Public Domain

That women should direct and participate in such numbers in the temperance movement came about from a convergence of forces. Many pastors gave their blessings to this endeavor and encouraged female participation. In addition, women and their children were the victims when their husbands took to drink. A drunk could bring his abuse home and unleash it on his family. The factory worker who spent his paycheck in the saloon or the farmer whose befuddled condition prevented him from working his fields damaged not only his own health but also the financial well-being of his household.

Hand in hand with the religious revivals led by such clergy as Lyman Beecher and Charles Finney came the earliest anti-alcohol movements. By 1831, 24 women’s temperance groups had sprung up across the country. Within 20 years, several hundred local organizations were advocating for moderation in drinking or demanding it be banned altogether. Members marched in the streets, prayed in front of saloons, distributed pamphlets and newsletters, and sang songs and chanted slogans like “Lips that touch liquor shall never touch ours,” originally from a poem by Harriet A. Glazebrook. 

Slowly, their efforts paid off, considerably lowering the consumption of beer, wine, and liquor. In many places, Americans signed temperance pledges, foreswearing drink, and so joined what was called the “Cold Water Army.”

In late 1873, Boston “physician” (he was never licensed to practice medicine) Dio Lewis delivered a powerful speech in a Baptist church in Fredonia, New York, attacking the “alcohol trade” and calling on the women of the church to organize against it. The enthusiastic response—more than 300 women and men met at the church the following Monday morning—gave birth to the politically powerful Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), which protested saloons and alcohol, and promoted family values.

Of all those associated with the temperance movement and with the WCTU, the most famous, and certainly the most colorful, was Carrie Nation (1846–1911).

‘Hatchet Granny’

Carry Nation, circa 1900. Public Domain

After carefully selecting rocks that she deemed ideal for throwing, in the summer of 1900, Carrie Nation took her weapons, rode her buggy into Kiowa, Kansas, and stunned the entire town by smashing three bars, throwing stones through mirrors and liquor bottles, and using pool balls when she ran out of ammunition. Because the saloons were operating illegally, she was never charged.

Later, she did the same to other saloons, sometimes using a hatchet to break up these establishments. She was arrested more than 30 times, spent some nights in jail, and was repeatedly fined. From her lectures and the sale of various temperance souvenirs, including replicas of her famous hatchet, she raised the money to pay these debts.

Nation was regarded as a heroine by some and as a “crazy lady” by others; it is the latter label that shadows her today. Yet as Mark Schrad writes in his admirable article “Hatchet Nation,” history has, in many respects, missed the mark in its judgment of her. Like others involved in the temperance movement, her husband died of alcoholism and left her impoverished. During one phase of her life, when she volunteered as a prison evangelist, she asked each inmate what had caused him to commit his crime, to which came an almost inevitable reply: “Drink.” Finally, she had little recourse within the political system to seek change. When corrupt government sometimes tolerated illegal saloons and distilleries, and then arrested her for her saloon-busting, Nation would shout, “You wouldn’t give me the vote, so I had to use a rock!”

In addition to advocating the vote for women and her prison ministry, Nation organized food and clothing drives for the needy, founded a battered women’s shelter, and opened “Hatchet Hall” in Arkansas, where she ministered to the elderly and to abused women and their children.

The Ripple Effect

Frances Willard, 1880. Library of Congress. Public Domain

In certain ways, Carrie Nation’s work and commitments to various causes embody the enormous influence of the temperance movement on American history. Like her, some of the women who spearheaded this drive against demon rum became involved in abolitionism, rights for women, helping the poor, and attaining female suffrage.

We can see this expansion of commitment in the “Do Everything” philosophy and practices of the WCTU’s second president, Frances Willard (1839–1898). Passed in 1882 by the WCTU, Willard’s “Do Everything” policy freed local chapters to tackle other social and political issues as they wished. A conservative chapter, for example, might be opposed to the Home Protection Ballot (the women’s vote), but it could exist alongside a chapter supporting that cause. Willard herself favored women’s suffrage but wanted the WCTU to remain focused on battling the bane of alcohol and building up family life.

In many ways, then, the temperance movement is the grandmother of all similar social movements guided so often by women today. Groups like Enough Is Enough, for example, which seeks to better family life through teaching internet safety for children and protecting them from online predators, as well as all similar organizations, owe a debt for their existence to the ladies of long ago.

A final note: The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union is still in existence. As its website declares, “The WCTU is the oldest, continuous woman’s organization in the world.” The site also tells us that “the WCTU continues its work to educate about the dangers of alcohol and other drug use. The WCTU works to protect families from all negative influences under its ‘Do Everything’ policy.”

In 2017, the WCTU was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

A lithograph supporting the temperance movement, "The Drunkard's Progress: From the First Glass to the Grave," circa 1846, by Nathaniel Currier. Library of Congress. Public Domain

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