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I'm excited to be a part of the "Temperance Men" of the 24th Iowa for this latest adventure at Into the Piney Woods next month.
Not finding any organized thread on here under the term "Temperance Movement", I propose to gather research here for the upcoming event.
In order to start discussion on the topic of the Temperance movement in 19th century America, I offer the below citation:
An organized temperance movement began in Georgia in the late 1820s and, after early difficulties, flourished through the 1930s.
As in other parts of the United States, Georgia's temperance reformers typically were evangelical Protestants who regarded alcoholic beverages as harmful (even sinful) for the individual drinker and for society at large. Supposedly, drink destroyed families and reputations and brought about poverty, disorder, and crime. As elsewhere, Georgia's temperance reformers started by urging individuals to decide voluntarily not to drink and later campaigned to change the laws to restrict and abolish the sale of alcoholic beverages. Georgia had statewide prohibition from 1908 until 1935, a period that began before and extended beyond national prohibition (1920-1933).
The Georgia State Temperance Society, organized in 1828, at first met concurrently with the Baptist state convention. The state society sent delegates to the American Temperance Society but was never formally affiliated with it. Originally this first statewide society committed its members to moderation in the consumption of distilled liquors. When it attempted in 1836 to shift to a teetotal pledge, the society broke up and disappeared. One of the few affiliated local societies to survive was in Augusta, for many years a temperance stronghold.
In the 1840s and 1850s the Georgia temperance movement shared in national enthusiasms: Washingtonianism, which employed the testimonials of reformed drunkards to encourage men to pledge themselves to give up drink; and fraternal societies, such as the Sons of Temperance, which combined quasi-Masonic ritual and mutual insurance with teetotalism.
Prewar temperance reformers explored the political road to temperance. In the late 1830s a petition movement called for an end to retail liquor licenses. In 1855, influenced by the example of statutory prohibition in the state of Maine, a temperance convention meeting in Atlanta nominated a Methodist minister, B. H. Overby, as a candidate for governor on a platform of statewide prohibition.
Before the Civil War, some white Georgians may have associated temperance with northern abolitionists and consequently rejected it. Lagging economic development also handicapped the temperance cause, given that this modernizing ideology had little appeal in predominantly rural Georgia. Finally, Georgians disliked laws that restricted their personal liberty.
I find it fascinating that Southerners would associate such a movement with being Yankee in nature. Being Southern in heritage, I can see how the above citation could be very true- since many Southerners (really more than any part of the country that 've been to) to this day find laws against personal freedom quite uncomfortably restrictive. (No modern political commentaries on this note please.
)
I also have seen from my own research that the Temperance Movement in the 19th Century was divided into certain ideas of thought. Some people advocated for moderation in drinking alcohol, and some advocated for no drinking outright. Some also threw-in abstinence from smoking, pornographic images, etc and some did not.
What would the "Temperance Men" of the 24th Iowa been more of the persuasion of? Does anyone have any research they can share? I did a scan of Google Books and it has some great (but huge .pdf format) files of Temperance books and other literature.
I'll post information here as I find it.
Temperance songs: http://books.google.com/books?id=g-p...d=1_1#PPA50,M1
All the best- Johnny Lloyd:wink_smil
PS- Shall we make some of our fellow soldiers and Confederate captives "Take the Pledge"?:D
I'm excited to be a part of the "Temperance Men" of the 24th Iowa for this latest adventure at Into the Piney Woods next month.
Not finding any organized thread on here under the term "Temperance Movement", I propose to gather research here for the upcoming event.
In order to start discussion on the topic of the Temperance movement in 19th century America, I offer the below citation:
An organized temperance movement began in Georgia in the late 1820s and, after early difficulties, flourished through the 1930s.
As in other parts of the United States, Georgia's temperance reformers typically were evangelical Protestants who regarded alcoholic beverages as harmful (even sinful) for the individual drinker and for society at large. Supposedly, drink destroyed families and reputations and brought about poverty, disorder, and crime. As elsewhere, Georgia's temperance reformers started by urging individuals to decide voluntarily not to drink and later campaigned to change the laws to restrict and abolish the sale of alcoholic beverages. Georgia had statewide prohibition from 1908 until 1935, a period that began before and extended beyond national prohibition (1920-1933).
The Georgia State Temperance Society, organized in 1828, at first met concurrently with the Baptist state convention. The state society sent delegates to the American Temperance Society but was never formally affiliated with it. Originally this first statewide society committed its members to moderation in the consumption of distilled liquors. When it attempted in 1836 to shift to a teetotal pledge, the society broke up and disappeared. One of the few affiliated local societies to survive was in Augusta, for many years a temperance stronghold.
In the 1840s and 1850s the Georgia temperance movement shared in national enthusiasms: Washingtonianism, which employed the testimonials of reformed drunkards to encourage men to pledge themselves to give up drink; and fraternal societies, such as the Sons of Temperance, which combined quasi-Masonic ritual and mutual insurance with teetotalism.
Prewar temperance reformers explored the political road to temperance. In the late 1830s a petition movement called for an end to retail liquor licenses. In 1855, influenced by the example of statutory prohibition in the state of Maine, a temperance convention meeting in Atlanta nominated a Methodist minister, B. H. Overby, as a candidate for governor on a platform of statewide prohibition.
Before the Civil War, some white Georgians may have associated temperance with northern abolitionists and consequently rejected it. Lagging economic development also handicapped the temperance cause, given that this modernizing ideology had little appeal in predominantly rural Georgia. Finally, Georgians disliked laws that restricted their personal liberty.
I find it fascinating that Southerners would associate such a movement with being Yankee in nature. Being Southern in heritage, I can see how the above citation could be very true- since many Southerners (really more than any part of the country that 've been to) to this day find laws against personal freedom quite uncomfortably restrictive. (No modern political commentaries on this note please.
)I also have seen from my own research that the Temperance Movement in the 19th Century was divided into certain ideas of thought. Some people advocated for moderation in drinking alcohol, and some advocated for no drinking outright. Some also threw-in abstinence from smoking, pornographic images, etc and some did not.
What would the "Temperance Men" of the 24th Iowa been more of the persuasion of? Does anyone have any research they can share? I did a scan of Google Books and it has some great (but huge .pdf format) files of Temperance books and other literature.
I'll post information here as I find it.
Temperance songs: http://books.google.com/books?id=g-p...d=1_1#PPA50,M1
All the best- Johnny Lloyd:wink_smil
PS- Shall we make some of our fellow soldiers and Confederate captives "Take the Pledge"?:D
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