EasternVol
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Thanks for the WCTU shout-out, even spelled out what the C stood for.Role of women
"Woman's Holy War. Grand Charge on the Enemy's Works". An allegorical 1874 political cartoon print, which shows temperance campaigners as virtuous armoured women warriors, wielding axes to destroy barrels of Beer, Whisky, Gin, Rum, Brandy, Wine and Liquors, under the banners of "In the name of God and humanity" and the "Temperance League".
Much of the temperance movement was based on organized religion, which saw women as responsible for edifying their children to be abstaining citizens.[17][46]: 23 Nevertheless, temperance was tied in with both religious renewal and progressive politics, particularly female suffrage.[16] Furthermore, temperance activists were able to promote suffrage more effectively than suffrage activists were, because of their wide-ranging experiences as activists, and because they argued for a concrete desire for safety at home, rather than for an abstract desire for justice as suffragists did.[65]: 5–6
By 1831, there were over 24 women's organizations which were dedicated to the temperance movement. Women were specifically drawn to the temperance movement, because it represented a fight to end a practice that greatly affected women's quality of life. Temperance was seen as a feminine, religious and moral duty, and when it was achieved, it was also seen as a way to gain familial and domestic security as well as salvation in a religious sense.[4]: 47 Indeed, scholar Ruth Bordin stated that the temperance movement was "the foremost example of American feminism".[109] Prominent women such as Amelia Bloomer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony were active in temperance and abolitionist movements in the 1840s.[4]: 47
A myriad of factors contributed to women's interest in the temperance movement. One of the initial contributions was the frequency in which women were the victims of those who had an alcohol use disorder. At a Chicago meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Susan B. Anthony stated that women suffer the most from drunkenness. The inability of women to control wages, vote, or own property added to their vulnerability.[110]: 7 Another contribution was related to the role of women in the home in the 19th century, which was largely to preside over the spiritual and physical needs of their homes and families. Because of this, women believed that it was their duty to protect their families from the danger of alcohol and convert their family members to the ideas of abstinence. This newfound calling to temperance, however, did not change the widely held viewpoint that women were only responsible for matters which pertained to their homes.[110]: 8 Consequently, women had what Ruth Bordin referred to as the "maternal struggle" which women felt was the internal contradiction that came with their newly discovered power to make change, while still believing in their nurturing and domestic roles without yet understanding how to use their newly acquired power.[110]: 8–9 June Sochen called women who joined movements such as women's temperance organizations "pragmatic feminists", because they took action to solve their grievances, but were not interested in altering traditional sex roles.[111] The missionary organizations of many Protestant denominations gave women an avenue to work from; several all-female missionary societies already existed and it was easy for them to transform themselves into women's temperance organizations.[110]: 9–10
In the 1870s and 1880s, the number of women who were in the middle and upper classes was large enough to support women's participation in the temperance movement. Higher class women did not need to work because they could rely on their husbands' ability to support their families and they consequently had more leisure time to engage in organizations and associations that were affiliated with the temperance movement.[110]: 10 The influx of Irish immigrants filled the servant jobs that freed African-Americans left after the American Civil War, leaving upper and middle-class women with even more time to participate in the community while domestic jobs were being filled. Moreover, the birth rate had fallen, leaving women with an average of four children in 1880 as compared to seven children at the beginning of the 19th century.[112][110]: 11–12 The gathering of people in urban areas and the extra leisure time for women contributed to the mass female temperance movement.[110]: 11–12
A postcard from around 1910
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) grew out of a spontaneous crusade against saloons and liquor stores that began in Ohio and spread throughout the Midwestern United States during the winter of 1873–1874. The crusade consisted of over 32,000 women who stormed into saloons and liquor stores in order to disrupt business and stop the sales of alcohol.[113][110]: 15 The WCTU was officially organized in late November 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio.[114] Frances Willard, the organization's second president, helped grow the organization into the largest women's religious organization in the 19th century. Willard was interested in suffrage and women's rights as well as temperance, believing that temperance could improve the quality of life on both the family and community level. The WCTU trained women in skills such as public speaking, leadership, and political thinking, using temperance as a springboard to achieve a higher quality of life for women on many levels. In 1881, the WCTU began lobbying for the mandate of instruction in temperance in public schools. In 1901, schools were required to instruct students on temperance ideas, but they were accused of perpetuating misinformation, fear mongering, and racist stereotypes. Carrie Nation was one of the most extreme temperance movement workers and she was arrested 30 times for her "hatchetations" - using a hatchet to destroy property at bars, saloons, and even pharmacies, believing that even alcohol which was used for medicine was unjustified. At the approach of the 20th century, the temperance movement became more interested in legislative reform as pressure from the Anti-Saloon League increased. Women, who had not yet achieved suffrage, became less central to the movement in the early 1900s.[115]
Do you remember the Moral Majority? Falwell, Robertson, Huckabee, and all those clown political psuedoChristians?
