(left) Cruikshank, George. The Bottle. 1847; Plate VI, "Fearful Quarrels and Brutal Violence are the Natural Consequences of the Frequent Use of the Bottle;" a British print used for T.S. Arthur's "Temperance Tales," 1848. Digital Image. The History Project - UC Davis. Web. 2 May 2014.
Notice how in this picture the drinker and his family seem to be in shabby clothing, without shoes, with simple furniture, or sometimes even homeless, showing how temperance was often portrayed with being poor.
Notice how in this picture the drinker and his family seem to be in shabby clothing, without shoes, with simple furniture, or sometimes even homeless, showing how temperance was often portrayed with being poor.
(left)Currier, and Ives. The Bad Husband: The Fruits of Intemperance and Idleness. Digital image. Library of Congress. [New York] : Currier & Ives, 1870., n.d. Web. 2 May 2014.
Also, in this picture the drinker and his family seem to be in shabby clothing, without shoes, with simple furniture.
Also, in this picture the drinker and his family seem to be in shabby clothing, without shoes, with simple furniture.
(left)Currier, Nathaniel. The Fruits of Temperance. Digital image. Library of Congress. New York : Published by J.B. Allen, C1848., n.d. Web. 2 May 2014.
Contrasting the other pictures, the family here is well-dressed, have a nice home, and seem happy--things which were associated with being temperate.
Contrasting the other pictures, the family here is well-dressed, have a nice home, and seem happy--things which were associated with being temperate.
The temperance movement in part was spurred on by the enormous amount of immigrants in the mid-1800s. Eric Foner notes that “over 4 million people…entered the United States” between 1840 and 1860 and that most of the immigrants were German or Irish (Foner 334). With the immense fluctuation of immigration to the United States between the years of 1840 and 1860 came also an immense fluctuation of poor. In 1848, the American Whig Review mentions that this immigration put “increasing and urgent demands upon our almshouse and voluntary charities” in New York(Gardiner 420). As more immigrants poured into the city, the poorhouses became filled with people who were often characterized by “idleness, imposture, [and] crime” (Gardiner 422). To combat this, aid societies often produced pamphlets which contrasted “the strictly temperate man” who is “respectable” with “the man who drinks even a little” and “suffers in all these respects” (Gardiner 424). To these aid societies, issues of crime and laziness were directly related to intemperate attitudes. Similarly, Foner shows that many Americans “blame immigrants for urban crime, political corruption, and a fondness for intoxicating liquor” (Foner 337). Scholars Paul Reckner and Stephen Brighton show that immigrant intemperance was even blamed for disease as middle and upper class citizens viewed “outbreaks of [cholera] among America’s immigrant poor…as evidence of the intemperance” of the immigrant community (Reckner, Brighton 70). Since immigrants were viewed as intemperate, activist groups were often formed by higher classes to promote temperance ideals in immigrants. Some of the immigrants felt discriminated against because of their culture, but other embraced temperance as a way to become more Americanized.
Temperance activist groups, usually formed by higher class citizens, were primarily targeted towards immigrants, who were viewed as intemperate. Edith Jeffrey explains that immigrants were also pushed towards temperance by “Catholic parish churches with predominantly Irish parishioners” which had their “own temperance society” (Jeffrey 408). Activist groups such as the “Ladies’ Roman Catholic Benevolent Society praised the good that temperance societies had already achieved” in the Irish community (Jeffrey 422). These immigrant temperance societies however, had a distinct hierarchy which placed middle and upper class people like “clergy…lawyers, real estate agents, [and] minor political figures” as the main initiators of temperance (Jeffrey 423). Reckner and Brighton also suggest that “leadership positions in the [temperance] movement were filled by middle-class businessmen” showing that the higher classes—not working-class immigrants—often led temperance societies (Reckner, Brighton 67). These temperance societies regularly “focus[ed] their efforts on freeing impoverished, working-class, and immigrant groups from the bonds of addiction”
(Reckner, Brighton 63). Jill Dodd similarly mentions that temperance leaders felt that since “to be a drunkard was to be enslaved [but] to be abstinent was to take control over one’s life” temperance societies were helping people obtain liberation (Dodd 512). The higher class perception of immigrants as intemperate caused temperance societies to specifically target this minority group, with mixed reactions within the group.
Some immigrants felt temperance was an affront to their style of living. Reckner and Brighton showed that when factory owners tried to stop immigrant workers from drinking, alcohol became more prominent at the work sites “as a gesture of resistance and opposition” to cultural reformation (Reckner, Brighton 71). The article also explains the vast amount of historical alcohol bottles near work sites as “active resistance by mill employees” against the temperance movement (Reckner, Brighton 81). The immigrants working at these jobs fought against the temperance
movement. Dodd explains that “German and Irish immigrants…opposed the temperance movement” although arguably the German were not as affected by it (Dodd 512). However, Reckner and Brighton note that some “German residents resisted the Metropolitan police” after a prominent liquor seller was arrested and speak of numerous Irish riots due to temperance (Reckner, Brighton 65). One explanation for this dislike of temperance is that immigrants saw temperance laws as “a direct challenge to residents’ cultural identity” (Reckner, Brighton 64). The threat to the culture of these discriminated groups caused many to reject temperance.
Even though some immigrants fought against temperance, many embraced the movement because it allowed them to transcend previous cultural boundaries. Jeffrey explains how “for the Catholic Irish, at home and abroad, temperance held…national redemption and vindication” as its promise for this discriminated group (Jeffrey 414). Further in the article Jeffrey shows how the “vision of formerly ‘intemperate Irishmen’ now transformed into heroes of temperance” allowed the Irish to transcend their stereotype of slovenly, lazy workers (Jeffrey 419). Meredith Linn also shows how soda water as a substitute for alcohol allowed the “transformation of an Irish immigrant into a self-reliant and ‘respectable’ Irish American” (Linn 103). Because temperance allowed the Irish to partially remove the negative stereotype surrounding them, many Irish embraced the temperance movement. However, whether the immigrants embraced or rejected the temperance movement, the American perception of the intemperate immigrant caused many temperance societies to be formed. These temperance groups, created by the fear of intemperate immigrants, furthered the temperance movement throughout the nation.
Altschuler, Glenn C., and Jan M. Saltzgaber. "Clearinghouse for Paupers: The Poorfarm of Seneca County, New York, 1830-1860." Journal of Social History 17.4 (1984): 573-600. Print.
Bell, Michael Everette. "Regional Identity in the Antebellum South: How German Immigrants Became "Good" Charlestonians." The South Carolina Historical Magazine 100.1 (1999): 9-28. Print.
Dodd, Jill Siegel. "The Working Classes and the Temperance Movement in Ante-Bellum Boston." Labor History 19.4 (1978): 510. Print.
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. 4th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & , 2014. Print.
Gardiner, O. C. "Foreign Immigration - Charitable Institutions of New York City: Voluntary Associations, Almshouse, and Commission of Emigration." The American Whig Review 0007.4 (1848): 419-32. Http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/m/moa/. Web. 2 May 2014.
Huebner, Timothy S. "Joseph Henry Lumpkin and Evangelical Reform in Georgia: Temperance, Education, and Industrialization, 1830-1860." The Georgia Historical Quarterly 75.2, RELIGION AND SOCIETY IN GEORGIA AND THE SOUTH (1991): 254-74. Print.
Jeffrey, Edith."Reform, Renewal, and Vindication: Irish Immigrants and the Catholic Total Abstinence Movement in Antebellum Philadelphia." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 112.3 (1988): 407-31. Print.
Kerrigan, Colm."Irish Temperance and US Anti-Slavery: Father Mathew and the Abolitionists." History Workshop.31 (1991): 105-19. Print.
Linn, Meredith B."Elixir of Emigration: Soda Water and the Making of Irish Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City." Historical Archaeology 44.4 (2010): 69-109. Print.
Reckner, Paul E., and Stephen A. Brighton. ""Free from all Vicious Habits": Archaeological Perspectives on Class Conflict and the Rhetoric of Temperance." Historical Archaeology 33.1, Confronting Class (1999): 63-86. Print.
Tyrrell, Ian R. "Drink and Temperance in the Antebellum South: An Overview and Interpretation." The Journal of Southern History 48.4 (1982): 485-510. Print.
Temperance activist groups, usually formed by higher class citizens, were primarily targeted towards immigrants, who were viewed as intemperate. Edith Jeffrey explains that immigrants were also pushed towards temperance by “Catholic parish churches with predominantly Irish parishioners” which had their “own temperance society” (Jeffrey 408). Activist groups such as the “Ladies’ Roman Catholic Benevolent Society praised the good that temperance societies had already achieved” in the Irish community (Jeffrey 422). These immigrant temperance societies however, had a distinct hierarchy which placed middle and upper class people like “clergy…lawyers, real estate agents, [and] minor political figures” as the main initiators of temperance (Jeffrey 423). Reckner and Brighton also suggest that “leadership positions in the [temperance] movement were filled by middle-class businessmen” showing that the higher classes—not working-class immigrants—often led temperance societies (Reckner, Brighton 67). These temperance societies regularly “focus[ed] their efforts on freeing impoverished, working-class, and immigrant groups from the bonds of addiction”
(Reckner, Brighton 63). Jill Dodd similarly mentions that temperance leaders felt that since “to be a drunkard was to be enslaved [but] to be abstinent was to take control over one’s life” temperance societies were helping people obtain liberation (Dodd 512). The higher class perception of immigrants as intemperate caused temperance societies to specifically target this minority group, with mixed reactions within the group.
Some immigrants felt temperance was an affront to their style of living. Reckner and Brighton showed that when factory owners tried to stop immigrant workers from drinking, alcohol became more prominent at the work sites “as a gesture of resistance and opposition” to cultural reformation (Reckner, Brighton 71). The article also explains the vast amount of historical alcohol bottles near work sites as “active resistance by mill employees” against the temperance movement (Reckner, Brighton 81). The immigrants working at these jobs fought against the temperance
movement. Dodd explains that “German and Irish immigrants…opposed the temperance movement” although arguably the German were not as affected by it (Dodd 512). However, Reckner and Brighton note that some “German residents resisted the Metropolitan police” after a prominent liquor seller was arrested and speak of numerous Irish riots due to temperance (Reckner, Brighton 65). One explanation for this dislike of temperance is that immigrants saw temperance laws as “a direct challenge to residents’ cultural identity” (Reckner, Brighton 64). The threat to the culture of these discriminated groups caused many to reject temperance.
Even though some immigrants fought against temperance, many embraced the movement because it allowed them to transcend previous cultural boundaries. Jeffrey explains how “for the Catholic Irish, at home and abroad, temperance held…national redemption and vindication” as its promise for this discriminated group (Jeffrey 414). Further in the article Jeffrey shows how the “vision of formerly ‘intemperate Irishmen’ now transformed into heroes of temperance” allowed the Irish to transcend their stereotype of slovenly, lazy workers (Jeffrey 419). Meredith Linn also shows how soda water as a substitute for alcohol allowed the “transformation of an Irish immigrant into a self-reliant and ‘respectable’ Irish American” (Linn 103). Because temperance allowed the Irish to partially remove the negative stereotype surrounding them, many Irish embraced the temperance movement. However, whether the immigrants embraced or rejected the temperance movement, the American perception of the intemperate immigrant caused many temperance societies to be formed. These temperance groups, created by the fear of intemperate immigrants, furthered the temperance movement throughout the nation.
Altschuler, Glenn C., and Jan M. Saltzgaber. "Clearinghouse for Paupers: The Poorfarm of Seneca County, New York, 1830-1860." Journal of Social History 17.4 (1984): 573-600. Print.
Bell, Michael Everette. "Regional Identity in the Antebellum South: How German Immigrants Became "Good" Charlestonians." The South Carolina Historical Magazine 100.1 (1999): 9-28. Print.
Dodd, Jill Siegel. "The Working Classes and the Temperance Movement in Ante-Bellum Boston." Labor History 19.4 (1978): 510. Print.
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. 4th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & , 2014. Print.
Gardiner, O. C. "Foreign Immigration - Charitable Institutions of New York City: Voluntary Associations, Almshouse, and Commission of Emigration." The American Whig Review 0007.4 (1848): 419-32. Http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/m/moa/. Web. 2 May 2014.
Huebner, Timothy S. "Joseph Henry Lumpkin and Evangelical Reform in Georgia: Temperance, Education, and Industrialization, 1830-1860." The Georgia Historical Quarterly 75.2, RELIGION AND SOCIETY IN GEORGIA AND THE SOUTH (1991): 254-74. Print.
Jeffrey, Edith."Reform, Renewal, and Vindication: Irish Immigrants and the Catholic Total Abstinence Movement in Antebellum Philadelphia." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 112.3 (1988): 407-31. Print.
Kerrigan, Colm."Irish Temperance and US Anti-Slavery: Father Mathew and the Abolitionists." History Workshop.31 (1991): 105-19. Print.
Linn, Meredith B."Elixir of Emigration: Soda Water and the Making of Irish Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City." Historical Archaeology 44.4 (2010): 69-109. Print.
Reckner, Paul E., and Stephen A. Brighton. ""Free from all Vicious Habits": Archaeological Perspectives on Class Conflict and the Rhetoric of Temperance." Historical Archaeology 33.1, Confronting Class (1999): 63-86. Print.
Tyrrell, Ian R. "Drink and Temperance in the Antebellum South: An Overview and Interpretation." The Journal of Southern History 48.4 (1982): 485-510. Print.