The Temperance Movement in America Quiz

The Temperance Movement in the 19th and 20th Century America

• The organized temperance movement began around 1810 with individual alcohol abstinence pledges common in Protestant churches since 1800.
• By the mid-1830s, around six thousand temperance organizations existed nationwide.
• Key leaders of the temperance movement included Carrie Nation, Frances Wheeler, Howard Hyde Russell, and Wayne Wheeler.
• The movement was driven by the belief that alcohol was destroying individuals and families, with a significant impact on factory workers and productivity.
• The temperance movement was heavily influenced by Protestant Christianity, with organizations like the Women's Christian Temperance Union leading the cause.
• The Second Great Awakening, a religious revivalist movement, played a significant role in spurring the temperance movement.
• Groups that supported the temperance movement included the American Temperance Society, Women's Christian Temperance Union, Anti-Saloon League, business owners, and Methodist religious movement.
• The movement grew increasingly political after the 1860s, with the Women's Christian Temperance Union engaging in educational, social, and legislative endeavors.
• Success of the temperance movement was primarily local, leading to the passage of state laws promoting temperance during the 19th century and eventually reaching the federal level with the Volstead Act and the Eighteenth Amendment around 1920.
• The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was a key organization in the temperance movement, focusing on promoting temperance as part of wider efforts to improve society, including educational and societal reform.
• Francis Willard, the second president of the WCTU, expanded the organization's efforts to include legal and political actions, prioritizing women's rights, suffrage, and social reform.
• The Anti-Saloon League, one of the first modern lobbying groups, played a crucial role in advocating for the prohibition of alcohol.