Temperance may be defined as: moderation in all things healthful; total abstinence from all things harmful. On November 10, 1891, the first meeting of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was held in Boston, Massachusetts. The meeting signaled a new era of social responsibility and the beginning of public charities. The move signaled the real dawn and consequence of an industrialized nation.

As the number of factories increased so did the single worker going out of the family security net into the world. Cities replaced villages and the social landscape altered forever. Away from home or not making enough money to go home, many people turned to drink. Extra money also meant extra money for entertainment and leisure time. Leisure time in the extreme provoked a social response.

A number of people equated (and rightly so in most cases) a correlation between drinking and domestic violence, homelessness, poverty and crime. It was thought that if alcoholic drink was eliminated or extremely curtailed, the morals of the village may return to the uprooted families of the inner cities. And with enough people on the same page, a movement was born.

The movement of the 1890s was far from the first of its kind. Several temperance groups had made headway in Europe and America. In the United States temperance found a strong ally in the women’s rights movement and was consequently dominant by women with strong opinions and a desire for social change. Not always welcome in the America of the late Victorian era.

The organization was established in the 1870s with a primary goal being the abolition of alcohol in all the states of the union. It was not the first American group but one that received the most notoriety for its strict moral character and ardent desire to clean up America so that God would find favor with the nation’s inhabitants.

The main activities of the WCTU were “crusades.” These crusades involve mass prayer in local churches to petition God for assistance with making alcohol illegal and marching to local bars and saloons to demand the owner shut his or her doors. The women exacted a moral authority and used Christian beliefs as well as good old fashioned guilt and shame to pull people away from drink and into the movement.

All the members of the WCTU were tee totallers and hoped that many would learn from their example.Some did, others found them amusing and an object of scorn. Their beliefs for many were out of sync with the fast paced change of America’s industrialization.

Regardless of personal or public opinion, President Woodrow Wilson passed the 18^th amendment to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol in 1919. In this the WCTU saw their success and reward. The WCTU still exists today and continues the historic work of their foremothers.

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