History-Emma

The American Temperance Union and Washington Temperance Society—two coalitions for the common cause of defeating the enemy that was alcohol and what came along with it. Never was there a time in America when alcohol was not at all drank, but the consumption rates drastically increased in the 1820s, 30s, and 40s. The heaviest consumers of the time were adult men, and they drank so as to release their elemental impulses, but sadly this release caused a very large shortage of productivity by these men. They abused or at least stopped caring for their families and were fired from jobs, slowly making alcohol their sole focus in life. This was an obvious problem, to have an increasingly large group of drunkards roaming around being nothing but an inconvenience to the respectable Americans in society. This was the motivation for the founding of the ATU and WTS. The American Temperance Union was the first to be established in 1826. It was based off of six sermons written by Lyman Beecher, a Presbyterian preacher from Connecticut, and they discussed all the evils of alcohol. It was definitely argued that it was a completely evil substance, and that it should never be drunk. The Union used the sermons to have their members take a pledge to abstain 100% from alcohol consumption. It was wildly successful, and recruited more than 150,000 members in a matter of years. One limiting factor of the American Temperance Union was that it was comprised only of respectable elites, and it is preached that the enemies are the alcoholics. This made it difficult for an alcoholic to be accepted into the union, since they receive no sympathy. With this in mind came the founding of the Washington Temperance society, which catered more to the rough and rough-respectable men. In 1840, Baltimore resident William Mitchell and his friends were having their daily drinks at their usual bar, Chase’s Tavern, when they start wondering what at all is advantageous about drinking alcohol, for all it really does is waste their money and time. They signed pledges to completely stop their drinking, and when others saw the fun they still had without having to spend money on drinks, more and more people joined the society. Over time they had as many as a few hundred thousand members.


 * still need some more like pictures and whatnot. also citations.