Temperance in the Mid- to Late Nineteenth Century
Carry Nation was a dramatic individual and a pivotal figure in the late 19th century temperance movement. She founded a county division of the WCTU in Kansas, and she closed down many illegal saloons. Then in 1899, she decided to go even further, because she said that God had ordered her to do so. The “hachetations” of Carry Nation (her own invented word) struck terror in the heart of many saloon keepers across the country. Nation entered saloons and used her hatchet to smash and destroy as much of a saloon as she possibly could before getting arrested and hauled off to jail. She was relentless.
Nation believed that alcohol itself was evil, and she was convinced that the banning of alcohol and the destruction of saloons that sold this substance were the only ways to save wives and children from suffering from unhappy lives. According to Gilbert Murdock, Nation died in 1911, apparently of congenital syphilis.
Immigrants and Their Impact on Temperance
During the early 20th century, the large influx of immigrants from Europe also influenced temperance movements. Some immigrants, particularly Germans, Italians, and Irish, were loath to give up alcohol, and they actively resented movements toward restrictions against or the prohibition of alcohol.
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Mark S. Gold, M.D. and Christine Adamec
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REFERENCES
- Amethyst Initiative. Statement. Available online. Accessed March 1, 2009.
- Beirness, Douglas J., and Erin E. Beasley. Alcohol and Drug Use Among Drivers: British Columbia Roadside Survey, 2008. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, 2009.
- Berridge, Virginia, and Sarah Mars. “History of Addictions.” Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health 58 (2003): 747–750.
- Blanco, Carlos, M.D., et al. “Mental Health of College Students and Their Non-College-Attending Peers: Results from the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions.” Archives of General Psychiatry 65, no. 12 (2008): 1,429–1,437.
- Blocker, Jack S., Jr. “Did Prohibition Really Work: Alcohol Prohibition as a Public Health Innovation.” American Journal of Public Health 96, no. 2 (2006): 233–243.