Mary C Vaughan and the Temperance Movement Brett Daley and Hugh Walker April 8, 2011
Background Alcohol Problems Feminist Movement Second Great Awakening Believed it caused people to act disruptively Some families wasted their entire wages on alcohol Believed to increase domestic violence Rise in alcohol consumption in early 1800s Feminist Movement Cult of Domesticity Idea that housework and child care were the only proper activities for married women Second Great Awakening
Temperance Banner Lithograph, by Kellog and Cornstock
Temperance Movement American Temperance Society formed in 1826 Thousands more local groups also formed By 1838 one million people had pledged to give up alcohol Maine banned the sale of liquor in 1851 In 1852 Mary C Vaughan spoke at a Temperance Meeting By 1855 13 other states had adopted similar laws
Goals Sought to illegalize drinking of alcohol Share insight into the destructive capabilities of alcohol Improve social conduct and hygiene in society and reduce crime
Temperance Meeting, 1852 “There is no reform in which women can act better or more appropriately than temperance… Its effects fall so crushingly upon her…she has often seen its slow, insidious, but not the less surely fatal advances, gaining upon its victim. …Oh! The misery, the utter, hopeless misery of the drunkard’s wife!” -Mary C Vaughan
Supporters Feminists Businesses Churches Hoped it would reduce domestic violence Businesses Wanted their workers to be more responsible Churches Felt it would reduce disruptive and unholy behavior
Collapse Unpopular with the public Not as effective as it was hoped to be States eventually removed laws due to widespread unpopularity
Prohibition The anti-alcohol sentiment was still strong with many reformists into the early 20th century 18th amendment banned sale, manufacture, put in effect on January 16, 1920 Also extremely unpopular and ineffective due to bootlegging and “speakeasies” Repealed in 1933 by the 21st amendment