Woman and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty, 1873-1900.

Abstract

Since colonial days Americans have demonstrated a fondness for alcohol.Nineteenth-century industrialization, urbanization, and immigration served to emphasize that inclination.New urban working class neighborhoods, suddenly swollen with Irish, Polish, Greek, Italian, Russian, and other immigrants for whom the consumption of alcohol was a longstanding cultural characteristic, became highly visible centers of alcohol abuse to some native white Americans.Temperance organizations, like the Anti-Saloon League, Prohibition Party, and Sons and Daughters of Temperance, arose to crusade against alcohol.Undoubtedly the best known and most important of these groups is the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.Ruth Bordin, researcher at the Bentley Historical Library of the University of Michigan, examines the role of women in the temperance movement through a study of the WCTU.She argues that, in the post-Civil War nineteenth century, "women used the WCTU as a base for their participation in reformist causes, as a sophisticated avenue for political action, as a support for demanding the ballot, and as a vehicle for supporting a wide range of charitable activities" (p.xvi).Thus, Bordin places the WCTU in a far larger role than the often stereotyped Carry Nation ax-wielders.To a great extent, the success of the WCTU can be largely attributed to its first two presidents, Annie Wittenmyer and Frances E. Willard, who controlled the organization during its first quarter century.In age, temperament, and philosophy, Wittenmyer and Willard were very different women.Wittenmyer, the older of the two, was the editor of a Methodist newspaper and founder of the Methodist Home Missionary Society.Her primary commitment was to gospel temperance.She believed that the WCTU's program should be aimed at personal reform of the alcoholic and of the entire liquor industry through "moral suasion."Far more conservative than Willard, she refused to support the suffrage campaign for fear that it would destroy the family.Bordin suggests that for Willard temperance was merely a means to an end.Her primary objective was women's rights.Younger, better educated, more radical, and charismatic enough to become a national heroine, Willard was destined to clash with Wittenmyer.Although their disagreements were largely tactical, they increased in frequency until Willard defeated Wittenmyer at the WCTU's sixth annual con-