US History

The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

Social Movements

Women

This collection uses primary sources to explore the impact and role of women in the Temperance Movement.

An excerpt from an 1827 temperance sermon by Lyman Beecher.

Lyman Beecher was a famous Presbyterian minister and the father of authors and activists Harriet Beecher Stowe and Catharine Beecher, who advocated for the abolition of slavery and education for women. He co-founded the American Temperance Society and wrote popular sermons on temperance, which were printed and distributed throughout the US and Europe. This excerpt from one of Beecher’s sermons exemplifies Protestant attitudes towards drinking and urges men, churchgoers, and Americans to work for temperance.

A 1910 illustration depicting the destruction of intemperance from a book by Matilda Erickson used in churches, schools, and youth groups.

This illustration appears in a book by Matilda Erickson entitled *Temperance Torchlights* intended for use in churches, schools, temperance societies, and organizations for young people. It depicts intemperance as the destroyer of lives and dreams and religion as a lifeline. 


An excerpt from an 1891 biography of Dr. Dio Lewis, who inspired the formation of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.

This excerpt, titled “The Fredonia Movement,” comes from Mary F. Eastman’s 1891 biography of homeopathic doctor and temperance advocate Dr. Diocletian “Dio” Lewis, who inspired the formation of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. The biography was printed in an undated pamphlet entitled *The Woman’s Crusade: Forerunner of the WCTU.*

An excerpt from an 1852 story by Lucius M. Sargent, who used popular fiction to promote temperance.

“I am afraid there is a God!” is one of many of Lucius M. Sargent’s popular stories about temperance and the evils of drinking. David, the narrator, describes how alcohol ruined the life of his brother Absalom. Despite being raised together with their sister by parents who were religious temperance advocates, Absalom is easily seduced and quickly destroyed by drink. Sargent’s stories were distributed by religious and temperance societies and collected in several volumes of *The Temperance Tales*.

An illustration of the heroine of the temperance novel *Sweet Cicely* (1885), who begs a bartender to stop serving her husband.

Author Marietta Holley used humor to promote women’s issues, particularly suffrage and temperance. In *Sweet Cicely or Josiah Allen as a Politician* (1885), narrator Samantha Allen portrays arguments against women’s rights as ridiculous and drinking as the destroyer of the marriage of her niece, Cicely. Cicely and her mother-in-law find her husband Paul passed out drunk in a saloon. This illustration accompanies Cicely’s plea to the bartender to stop tempting Paul with liquor.

An 1877 illustration of a Sunday afternoon temperance meeting at Holy Trinity Church.

An 1832 article from the *Temperance Recorder* connecting drunkenness to cholera infection.

The *Temperance Recorder* was a publication of the New York State Temperance Society. Today we know that cholera is spread by contaminated water, food, and fecal matter.

An 1856 cartoon depicting German Americans as drunkards and suggesting that a bar is the German idea of school.

A cartoon from 1856 entitled “A Model School Among the Germans” lampoons the drinking habits of German immigrants in New York’s lower east side. The image both portrays German Americans as drunkards and suggests that a bar is the German idea of school. The text below the cartoon reads: “A Model School for the Germans. Erster Sprecher. ‘The School which we have now formed here in Orchard Street, in accordance with our Charter, Gentleman (*drinks!*), will show the enervated Americans what a miserable farce their System of Education is. Looking around this assembly of blooming, enlightened Young Men, I feel that German Education is now, as ever, the cradle of pure action, ennobling sentiment, strong intellect, and manly courage, which accompanies the German wherever he goes, and commands the respect of every civilized nation on the face of the earth.’ (*Drinks—immense applause!*).” 

An 1885 pamphlet published for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union that takes a “by the numbers” look at liquor consumption and costs.

*Temperance Arithmetic*, a pamphlet published for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in 1885, includes liquor-related math problems designed to be used in schools. Some of the questions ask students to compare spending on liquor to spending on education or essentials such as food.

An 1893 address to the World’s Woman’s Temperance Union by Frances Willard, president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.

In this speech delivered at the second biennial convention of the World’s Woman’s Temperance Union and the twentieth annual convention of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, WCTU president Frances Willard describes the movement’s progress. Willard describes women’s roles in the Temperance Movement, the intersection of temperance with other social movements, and refers to the white ribbon, which was the badge of the WCTU.

A letter from temperance leader Frances Willard to civil rights activist Albion Tourgée, responding to allegations of racism, 1894.

Willard responds to criticism about her annual address as president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in this letter to civil rights activist Albion Tourgée on December 21, 1894. Willard identifies herself as a supporter of racial justice and the work of anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells. In 1892 Wells asked Tourgée, an attorney, to represent her in a libel case. Having retired from law, Tourgée recommended his friend and colleague Ferdinand Barnett. Although they later decided not to pursue the case, Barnett and Wells married in 1895, which suggests that Wells and Tourgée may have been close.

A 1901 photograph of Carrie (Carry) Nation with a hatchet and a Bible.

After Carrie (or Carry) Nation lost her first husband to alcohol, she became a passionate and radical advocate for temperance. Nation raided saloons, where she used a hatchet to smash liquor bottles. She called this “hatchetation,” and it led to more than thirty arrests. In this 1901 photo possibly used to raise money for temperance, Nation poses with a hatchet and a Bible.

A 1901 photograph of damage to a Kansas saloon following a visit from Carrie Nation.

This photograph depicts the interior of a saloon in Kansas damaged by Carrie Nation. There are smashed bottles on the bar and the floor, and the mirror is shattered.

A 1906 article from the *Los Angeles Voice* supporting temperance.

This article, titled “A vote for Gates, Lindley or Harper means to perpetuate this thing,” was printed in the *Los Angeles Voice* on November 27, 1906. The author makes a case for temperance and criticizes the positions of mayoral candidates on the issue.

A 1921 advertisement for the Keeley Institute, a for-profit treatment center for alcohol addiction.

The Keeley Institute operated from 1879 to 1965. The 1921 ad depicts a content woman sewing while a child plays nearby, proclaiming that “The Beautiful Romance of life never blooms in the morass liquor or drug addiction.” The ad included a “giveaway”: free sewing needles and a needle threader.

Questions

1. Describe how the [illustration from *Temperance Torchlights*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1775), “[Intemperance and Cholera](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1780),” the cartoon “[A Model School Among the Germans](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1781),” and the [article from the *Los Angeles Voice*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1787) portray the dangers of drinking. What arguments do these sources make for temperance or abstinence, and what evidence do they provide for support?
2. Other than refraining from drinking alcohol, what values did the Temperance Movement support? Choose three primary sources and use them to identify these values. 
3. Use [Lyman Beecher’s sermon](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1774), [Dio Lewis’s biography](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1776), the [illustration of the temperance meeting](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1779), and [Frances Willard’s address](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1783) to compare men’s and women’s roles in promoting temperance.
4. Look at the [illustration from *Sweet Cicely*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1778) and the [advertisement for the Keeley Institute](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1788). Analyze how they portray women promoting temperance. Next, compare the image and the ad with how the [photograph of Carrie Nation](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1785) portrays the well-known temperance crusader.
5. Many believed that it was women’s Christian duty to crusade for temperance. Use the appeal women crusaders presented to liquor sellers of Fredonia in [Dio Lewis’s biography](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1776) to explain how they combined faith with femininity.
6. Consider that many women who participated in the Temperance Movement also were involved with other social causes. Use [Frances Willard’s address](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1783) and “[Temperance Arithmetic](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1782)” to identify the movements and interests that overlapped with the Temperance Movement and its supporters. 

Activity

1. Ask students to use the following primary sources to identify the different strategies women used to advocate for temperance: the [illustration from *Sweet Cicely*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1778), [Dio Lewis’s biography](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1776), [Frances Willard’s address](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1783), and the photograph of [Carrie Nation’s “hatchetation” of the saloon in Kansas](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1786). Next, divide students into groups. Each team will argue for the temperance strategy they find most effective, drawing on evidence from the primary sources above.
2. Ask students to research black women’s involvement in the Temperance Movement and Ida B. Wells. Next, they should research the Willard/Wells dispute described in [Frances Willard’s letter to Albion Tourgée](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-and-the-temperance-movement/sources/1784), then hypothesize about the opportunities and obstacles black women faced in campaigning for temperance and other causes. After looking again at Frances Willard’s letter, each student should write a letter from Ida B. Wells to Frances Willard that responds to the statement that Willard has been characterized unfairly “as the enemy of a race that I love and on whose behalf I would do anything.”

Teaching Guide: Exploring Women and the Temperance Movement

Resources

1. [Women’s Christian Temperance Union](https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/religious/women%E2%80%99s-christian-temperance-union/), Social Welfare History Project, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries.  
2. [Women Led the Temperance Charge](http://prohibition.themobmuseum.org/the-history/the-road-to-prohibition/the-temperance-movement/), The Mob Museum. 
3. [Temperance Movement](http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Temperance_Movement), Ohio History Central.  
4. [Roots of Prohibition](http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/roots-of-prohibition/), *Prohibition*, PBS.  

Overview

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Temperance Movement fought to reduce consumption of alcohol. The movement began in the 1820s, rooted in Protestant churches, led by clergy and prominent laymen, and powered by women volunteers. More women were involved in temperance than any other cause in US history up to that point. Women’s involvement seemed natural since the movement targeted men’s alcohol abuse and how it harmed women and children. At first, the Temperance Movement sought to moderate drinking, then to promote resisting the temptation to drink. Later, the goal became outright prohibition of alcohol sales. This shift coincided with a [large wave of immigrants](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/sets/immigration-and-americanization-1880-1930) from Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, and some temperance advocates echoed the concerns of nativists as they objected to immigrants’ “wet” cultures and drinking customs. In addition, temperance advocates regarded urban saloons as hosts to a range of immoral behaviors beyond drunkenness, such as gambling, adultery, prostitution, profanity, and corruption.

Women rose to leadership roles with the founding of the national Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1874. Temperance became known as the “Woman’s Crusade,” and women staged peaceful demonstrations of prayer at businesses that served alcohol. These methods reflected the gentle moral guidance expected from women of the era. Later, the Temperance Movement changed its goals and tactics, and it became a powerful political force which sought to prohibit alcohol entirely. Carrie (or Carry) Nation, a radical temperance advocate, gained both support and notoriety through raiding saloons and using a hatchet to smash their liquor bottles. In the 1890s, the Anti-Saloon League rose to prominence as an influential prohibition lobby, using methods from business and government rather than the church. The League fueled the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, or Prohibition, in 1920, which banned production and consumption of alcohol nationwide until 1933, when it was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment. While the movement aligned itself with privileged white femininity, many women who participated in the Temperance Movement also contributed to other forms of social activism, such as abolition, women’s suffrage, and equal rights for women and people of color. 

English

Women and the Temperance Movement

women-temperance-movement_12_07abad6b48324cea8b4d650ac1a3a2fb.jpg

Courtesy of The State Historical Society of Missouri via Missouri Hub.

Nichols & Davidson, “Nation, Carrie,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/07abad6b48324cea8b4d650ac1a3a2fb.

A 1901 photograph of Carrie (Carry) Nation with a hatchet and a Bible.

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Item 12 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Women and the Temperance Movement