HIST
4000
Fall
2002
Gagnon
On
January 16th, 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the
Constitution was passed.
the
United States, was the culmination of a movement that began in the early days
of the
across
the nation to combat the perceived evils of “demon rum”, and Athens was no
different.
As a college town, it had its share of Temperance societies, and Athenians were
equally
concerned as the rest of the Nation with regards to the pernicious effects of
spirits.
deluged
by alcohol. Americans at this time drank more than any of their fellow
countrymen
either before or since (which is quite surprising to the modern college
student).
This heightened consumption of spirits is attributed to several factors, one of
them
being a drop in whiskey prices due to increased production. Another was the
pervasive
male drinking cult. Men raised their sons to drink, starting them off while
still a
year
old, and the first trip to the tavern was viewed as a rite of passage into
manhood.
a
dram of whiskey because they thought the warm sensation it caused was
salubrious.[1]
As drunkenness became more and more
common, and its effects on society more
movement.
The first recorded temperance Society in the United States was established
in
Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1789. It was founded not to outlaw liquor, but
merely to
“discourage
its use”, a common feature of many early societies. Within a decade, the
Methodists
and Presbyterians had drafted resolutions to halt intemperance, and in 1808
the
Union Temperance Society was founded in Saratoga, New York.[3]
The élites of
Boston
joined together to form the Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of
two
dollar per annum dues and the election of new members by the society
discouraged
the
average Bostonian from becoming a member. This, together with the provision
that
liquor
was allowed to members, just not in large amounts, made the society seem more
like
a social club for the wealthy than a serious attempt at reform.[4]
Temperance in Athens came about rather
later than in the rest of the country, though
this
tardiness can be attributed to the relative youth of the city and its distance
from
centers
of culture. In 1830, the Athenian printed
a communication in which the goals of a
temperance
society (Clark County’s first) that was then being formed were outlined. Like
many
other contemporary movements, it had strong ties to religion. Church members
in
particular were invited to attend because “we need their experience, we need
their
example
to give us practical weight in society”. The stated purpose of the Society was
be
to
influence the youths attending “our College”(UGA), “those who are to become one
day
the legislators of the country.”[5]
The fact that at least part of the
impetus behind creating a temperance society was to
shape
the minds (and voting habits) of college students correlates with the trend of
elitist
membership
and goals in these societies observed elsewhere in the Unites States. The
newspapers
of Athens list a veritable who’s who of prominent citizens in attendance at
various
functions relating to the temperance movement, including doctors (of medicine,
theology,
and philosophy), judges, militia officers (such as Colonel J.H. Lumpkin)
and
politicians, not least of whom is Howell Cobb, later Secretary of the Treasury
under
President
James Buchanan and a Confederate general.
Unsurprisingly, one major
meeting
of temperance enthusiasts took place at UGA Commencement. Once again we
find
Colonel Lumpkin delivering a speech “upon his favorite topic- the evils of
intemperance”
while fellow teetotaler and elite Howell Cobb, Esq. was elected to the
board
of the University to fill a vacant spot.[6]
Though the general public was invited to
attend
these meetings, they were listening to the great men speak, more spectators
than
participants.[7]
Of course, Temperance was too powerful a
movement to be confined to the upper
classes
for long. In 1840, the Washingtonian Temperance Society was formed by “a half
dozen
hard drinkers, who had formed themselves into a club”.[8] They were geared
specifically
toward the working class, and in particular the intemperate, and might be
compared
to an antebellum Alcoholics Anonymous, as they also offered support
mechanisms
for members. The organization was more
intent than the elitist clubs on
proselytizing,
spreading their message of independence from alcohol to those under the
tyranny
of liquor (which is why they named themselves after the leader of the American
Revolution).
[9]
This Society spread quickly across the nation, and relative backwaters
such
as Springfield, Illinois could boast a Washingtonian Society only two years
after the
organization’s
inception, and could attract such speakers as a lawyer and former
Congressman
named Abraham Lincoln.[10]
Athens was no exception, and the
burgeoning Society was an institution in the city by
at
latest 1842.[11] By November
of that year, membership had risen to two hundred and
twenty-two
members, and in 1844 it had apparently become sufficiently important to
warrant
a visit from John Hawkins, one of the original members of the first Washington
Temperance
Society in Baltimore.[12]
Hawkins had dedicated his life to traveling the
country
“from Maine to Louisiana” establishing societies and giving speeches where it
was
not unusual for hundreds of repentant drunks to sign pledges committing to a
sober
life.[13]
Though Athenians were willing to sign the pledge
of temperance, the core members of
the
Washingtonian Society in Athens were overwhelmingly the same people who
supported
the movement prior to the arrival of the Washingtonians, most of them élites.
So
when the Society held a “Temperance Festival” in July of 1843, the Honorable
Howell
Cobb and the Honorable Charles Dougherty were joined by W.H. Hull, Esq. and
Thomas
R.R. Cobb, Esq. to savor “a variety of barbecued meats, cooked in superior
style”,
and that old war-horse of the
Temperance speaking circuit, Colonel Joseph H.
Lumpkin,
“concluded the intellectual part of the entertainment, by one of his happiest
efforts.”
The President of the Washingtonians at this occasion was one Colonel Billups. [14]
The
preponderance of titles, both military and civilian, of the men who organized
and
executed
this event shows a wide disparity between the Washingtonians in Athens and
the
Washingtonian ideal as originally conceived in Baltimore. This organization,
founded
by
and for the working class, had been taken over by the upper echelon of Athens
society.
compatriots
around the nation was politics. Most proponents of temperance reform were
impose
self-discipline in hopes of reforming oneself and society at large.
Intemperance
was
seen as a hindrance to reason because it clouded the senses and led to “the
complete
mastery
of man by base appetite.” Most
nationally recognized temperance leaders, such
as
Lyman Beecher, were members of the Whig party.[15]
Athens was staunchly Democratic this time.
The party of Jefferson and Jackson
espoused
a policy of personal liberty. While Whigs interpreted liberty as freedom from
the
pernicious effects of spirits, Democrats were more inclined to view it as the
freedom
to
do as they pleased, including though not limited to imbibing alcoholic
beverages.[16]
This
is not the case in Athens. Howell Cobb’s Democratic credentials have already
been
established
(as he held a Cabinet post under a Democratic president), and when an
ordinance
in the city was passed to regulate tavern keeping and keep liquor out of the
hands
of slaves, both the Chairman and Secretary of the city council (Edward Harden
and
William
L. Mitchell respectively) were Democrats.[17]
Of course, one might argue that any
politically-minded
individual in the antebellum South would have to be a Democrat, if
only
to be a viable force for change of any sort, temperance reform included. Thus,
someone
who held a Whig ideal would call themselves a Democrat, because (if recent
election
returns are any indicator) it was just as much an exercise in futility to be a
Whig
in
Antebellum Athens as it is to be a Democrat today.
An even greater frustration, though, was
experienced by women living in the pre-Civil
War
era. They did not have the option of being an active Whig or Democrat, as they
were
without
the vote. Lacking direct influence in the political sphere, women turned to
benevolent
associations to make an impact on society. At first, these associations were
concerned
with giving aid to orphans and abandoned women, and with missionary efforts
in
foreign lands. The Temperance movement, however, provided a new facet for what
has
been
called “domestic feminism”, the belief that women, who are every bit as capable
as
men, should apply their skills at homemaking to society at large. Women formed
their
own
independent societies, such as the Martha Washingtonians (an offshoot of the
Washingtonians)
and the Daughters of Temperance (sister organization to the Sons of
Temperance).
These groups, while working for temperance, also forwarded the cause of
women’s
rights, both indirectly and directly. The fact that women were running their
own
organizations
independently of men showed that they possessed the necessary capabilities
to
function on an equal level with men, and the Temperance societies became the
testing
grounds
for the suffragist movement, with such distinguished figures as Elizabeth Cady
Stanton
and Susan B. Anthony participating.[18]
There is little mention made of women
participating in the Movement in Athens,
however.
Nineteen ladies signed the pledge at the meeting of the Washingtonian
Temperance
Society in November, 1842, and “ladies and gentlemen of the Athens
vicinity”
were invited to a temperance address given in 1848, but they were not making
the
speeches.[19] In fact, the
only active role taken was at the Temperance Festival of July,
1843,
when “ladies of the place” entertained with “appropriate temperance songs” and
prepared
desserts which “were despatched with keen relish and apparent satisfaction”.[20]
Though
these anecdotes provide examples of extending domesticity to the public sphere
in
the name of temperance, the women of Athens are not shown to have fought for
enfranchisement,
or even for gender equality, though this is not entirely expected, as the
South
does seem rather behind the curve in such matters.
One thing that almost no one was fighting
for in antebellum Athens was the abolition
of
the “peculiar institution” of slavery. In the North, Temperance societies and
abolitionist
societies were often combined. Both crusades were undertaken with the
benefit
of humankind in mind, so it was only natural that the two movements should find
common
ground and common allies. Gerrit Smith of New York was an abolitionist and
temperance
advocate who condemned both the liquor and slave trades.[21]
William Lloyd
Garrison
and Theodore Weld were Northern abolitionists who embraced temperance, the
latter
going so far as to travel the country in support of both positions.[22]
In the realm of King Cotton, though,
abolition and temperance did not go hand-in-
hand.
The strong ties that the abolitionists in the North had with temperance
actually
weakened
the movement in the South, for instance when Southern temperance reformers
received
abolitionist pamphlets along with their temperance magazines.[23]
One article,
entitled
“The Fruits of Abolition,” blames race riots in Cincinnati on abolition in
Jamaica
and
the alleged insolence of free blacks celebrating that event, casting
emancipation in a
negative
light.[24] The only pro-emancipation voice in the
wilderness was that of J.
Flournoy,
who wrote the paper to say that he was in favor of freeing his slaves and
returning
them to Africa in a colonization attempt. Soon after, though, he writes back to
apologize
for any remarks he made in his previous correspondence.[25]
One wonders if
perhaps
he received threats from those who were rather less sanguine when it came
to
the idea of the abolition of slavery.
In religious terms, however, the temperance
movement in Athens corresponded with
the
movement in the rest of the country. The revivals of the Second Great Awakening
in
the
late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries provided much of the impetus for
temperance
reform. Out of the renewed Christian zeal grew the need to spread the
message
of reform, which had become a secular component of religious feeling.
Preachers
such as Lyman Beecher thundered from the pulpit on the evils of intemperance,
and
various societies dedicated to printing religious pamphlets transcribed his
sermons
for
use across the nation.[26]
The sects involved in these activities were almost exclusively
Protestant,
with Methodists and Presbyterians leading the way.[27]
Athens was a town that was dominated by
Protestant churches, which also dominated
the
Temperance Societies. The Clark County Temperance Society met in the
Presbyterian
Church,[28]
as did a Convention of delegates belonging to societies throughout the state.[29]
The
Methodist Church was apparently the designated meeting place of the
Washingtonian
Temperance Society, as they held almost all of their meetings there.[30]
Only
one organization, the Anti-Semi-Temperance Society, eschewed the self-righteous
airs
of the more religiously attuned groups, though, judging from their general lack
of
press
coverage, they were not as successful as the church oriented societies.[31]
the
nation at that time. The motivations for undertaking reform were the same-
social
control
by the upper classes being the initial reason, followed later by religious
zeal. The
composition
of the societies was also similar; they were formed and led by local élites
who
were almost always of a Protestant sect (Presbyterians and Methodists in
particular).
issues.
It can be assumed that the rest of the South mirrored Athens and followed a
path
which
was determined by Democratic concepts
of personal liberty and a reliance on
slavery,
while the North, led by New England, subscribed to a Whig paradigm of liberty
through
self-restraint and good morals. In light of this, it is possible to view the
strife
within
the United States in microcosm by observing the temperance movement. Though
many
of the same values were extolled by both societies, the means of achieving them
were
fundamentally different; differences which would only begin to be resolved by
the
impending
crisis of Civil War.
[1] W.J. Rorabaugh, The Alcoholic Republic, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 7,14,25.
[2] Rorabaugh, Alcoholic Republic, 29, 30-31.
[3] W.H. Daniels, The Temperance Reform and its Great Reformers (NY: Nelson&Philips,1877) 51-53.
[4] Robert L. Hampell, Temperance and Prohibition in Massachusetts (Ann Arbor: UMI Press), 1982.
[5] Athenian, June 22nd, 1830.
[6] Southern Banner, September 13th, 1843; August 5th, 1842.
[7] Southern Banner, June 28th, 1839.
[8] Daniels, Temperance Reform, 95.
[9] Thomas R. Pegram, Battling Demon Rum. (Chicago: Ivan R Dee, 1998), 27-28.
[10] Abraham Lincoln, The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln (NY: Modern Library, 2000), 260-266.
[11] Southern Banner, July 9th, 1842.
[12] Southern Banner, November 11th, 1842.
[13] Daniels, Temperance Reform, 99.
[14] Southern Banner, July 13th, 1843.
[15] Pegram, Battling Demon Rum, 36.
[16] Pegram, Battling Demon Rum, 36.
[17] Southern Banner, May 27th, 1842.
[18] Janet Zollinger Geile, Two Paths to Women’s Equality.(New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995), 38-39,45-47.
[19] Southern Banner, November 4th, 1842; October 5th, 1848.
[20] Southern Banner, July 13th, 1843.
[21] Pegram, Battling Demon Rum, 34.
[22] Rorabaugh, Alcoholic Republic, 214.
[23] Rorabaugh, Alcoholic Republic, 214.
[24] Southern Banner, August 19th, 1842.
[25] Southern Banner, March 31st, 1836; September 24th, 1836.
[26] Pegram, Battling Demon Rum , 17-19
[27] Rorabaugh, Alcoholic Republic, 207-208.
[28] Athenian, January 10th, 1832.
[29] Southern Banner, July 23rd, 1836.
[30] Southern Banner,June 24th,
1842; July 29th, 1842; October 28th, 1842; November 4th,
1842.
[31] Athenian, January 18th, 1831.