Temperance

By 1830, the average American family consumes an estimated 9.5 gallons of alcohol a year. Convinced that this is too high, a group of reformers fueled by religious zeal embarks upon a morals crusade. The Society for the Promotion of Temperance is one of several active players in this effort. The early temperance movement does succeed in reducing personal alcohol consumption, which is believed to have dropped 75% by 1845. The movement spreads throughout the country, peaks around 1856, and then wanes for a short time.

In the 1870s and 1880s, there is revived pressure to regulate alcohol — and, this time, even to prohibit its use altogether. The crusaders argue that the ravages of drink tend to manifest themselves in the home and be associated with a variety of social ills, from poverty to crime. These activists, though basing their arguments firmly on a religious foundation, also use cost-benefit reasoning reminiscent of Enlightenment ideology and the principles of deterrence. Initially a women's movement, this wave achieves small but meaningful successes. A few counties and states in the Midwest and South ban alcohol. In 1881, Kansas puts a prohibition of liquor in its state constitution. Though most jurisdictions do not take it this far, control is on the rise. Increasingly strict regulations govern when, where, and how alcohol can be sold, as well as in what amounts.

"An Argument Against Whiskey Drinking" A Delirium Tremens Patient in the "Horror Cell" in the Inebriates Ward of Blackwell's Island. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1874