JOURNAL
OF STUDIES ON ALCOHOL, VOL. 41,(L), 1980.
THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ALCOHOL
PROHIBITIONISTS FOR THE WASHINGTON
TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES
With
Special Reference to Paterson and Newark, New Jersey
Leonard
U. Blumberg*
SUMMARY.
The establishment and activities of the Washington Temperance societies
in Paterson and Newark are described, and the role of the temperance-prohibitionists
in their decline is analyzed.
THE
WASHINGTON TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES of the 1840s used a self help conversion
approach to drunkards and heavy drinkers, assuring them that they could
once again become prosperous and respectable members of the community,
reassume their socially mandated responsibilities for their wives and
children, liberate themselves from their subservience to King Alcohol,
relieve themselves from the terrible fate of eternal damnation and renew
the prospect of heavenly salvation if they would only sign the pledge
that, as gentlemen, they would no longer drink intoxicating beverages.
Maxwell (1) and Blumberg (2) have noted the similarities between Alcoholics
Anonymous and the Washingtonians. However, the fact that they developed
in different societal contexts may explain the greater stability, success
and significance of Alcoholics Anonymous compared with the Washingtonians.
The Washingtonians were associated with the nineteenth-century moral
reform movements, especially the temperance - prohibition movement,*
while A.A. has articulated with the medical profession in its mental
health and public health manifestations.
The
present essay deals with the significance of the temperance - prohibitionist
groups of the 1840s for the rise and decline of the Washingtonian societies.
It is the thesis of this paper that, while a number of other elements
were involved in the decline of the Washington temperance societies,
a major factor was the relationship between the Washington temperance
societies and the temperance - prohibitionists.**
*
Usually referred to as the (alcohol) temperance movement, the movement
by the 1840s had become committed to prohibition. The present paper
emphasizes this prohibitionism rather than personal abstinence from
alcohol.
**
The thesis is similar to the conclusion of Tyler (3,pp. 338-346). Tyler's
conclusion is undocumented, however, and must be regarded as hypothetical.
The
advocates of temperance had already conducted a considerable agitation
campaign by 1840, and the Washingtonians may be regarded as one of the
major results of the efforts by the temperance advocates to define the
consumption of alcohol in their own terms. Thus, the Baltimore Washingtonian
Temperance Society developed after a discussion among six friends as
Chasels Tavern about an announced temperance lecture; two of their number
agreed to go and hear the speaker and to report back (4). They discussed
the matter further and agreed that they would give sobriety and total
abstinence a try - but on their own terms. In its organizational beginnings,
therefore, the Washington Temperance Society of Baltimore was autonomous
from the local temperance societies in Maryland; it was working-class
oriented, while the temperance societies were middle-class in origin
and predominantly in composition; it was dominated by artisans, while
the temperance societies were dominated by ministers. Further, the Washingtonians
pledged themselves to exclude politics and religion from their meetings
(in order to minimize the sectarian divisiveness of the era and to keep
attention focused on the enemy - alcohol), while the temperance societies
made a considerable effort to create a link between their cause and
religion. From the 1840s on, the temperance societies advocated governmental
intervention in the sale of alcohol in order to protect the community
and to preserve the family. The founders of the Washingtonian Temperance
Society of Baltimore decided to use the practice of telling their "experiences"
as the basic agenda (i.e., they witnessed to the destructive effects
of alcohol and how abstinence had been beneficial both financially and
in terms of respectability) and thereby provided a basis for the rapid
spread of Washingtonianism among a population that was ready for it.
This growth was facilitated by the recruitment procedures of the Washingtonians
from the earliest meetings in Baltimore, it was agreed that members
would seek out other drunkards and heavy drinkers and tell them about
the society and how it had helped them. From this evolved a missionary
or evangelistic style; delegations of at least two would go to other
cities and towns to tell the story of how others could be saved from
drunkenness and degradation. While a New Testament model is suggested
by these practices, it is just as reasonable to suggest that the Washingtonians
went in pairs as a way of helping each other over the rough spots of
total abstinence. Further, traveling in pairs made it easier to certify
that neither had been drinking privately (although it did not guarantee
it); the temptation was overpowering at times and alcohol was omnipresent
during the period.
Sometimes
the Washingtonian missionaries operated as itinerant moral reformers
who came into town and began telling their experiences to anyone who
would listen; in the bigger towns and cities, however, they were usually
invited by local residents who had heard them elsewhere or who had read
about them in the local or temperance press. The audience was often
sympathetic to begin with. In addition, a number of curious heavy drinkers
and "rum sellers" would come, some to scoff and jeer and some
hoping to be convinced and converted. The persons who invited the Washingtonian
missionaries were deeply involved in the local temperance organizations
- they were already committed to a moral cause, which, from their point
of view, was of the first magnitude. As committed people they seized
upon the Washingtonians as an opportunity to broaden their impact on
the community. This was especially important because in the late 1830s
the temperance movement was divided as the consequence of a rift between
the relativists (who objected only to the use of distilled spirits)
and the absolutists (who were against any use of alcohol.) Their network
existed in the cities and towns, and they seized upon this chance to
mobilize a population that they had been unable to reach - the drunkards
and heavy drinkers. By the time the Washingtonian movement began to
fade, the absolutists had captured the temperance movement (with the
help of the Washingtonians) and had converted it into a prohibitionist
movement.
An
organizational approach is useful in the analysis not only of the diffusion
of the Washington phenomenon, but also of its decline. Whatever their
socioeconomic backgrounds, the heavy drinkers and drunkards who were
recruited into the local Washingtonian total abstinence societies were
not respectable, although they could gain or regain respectability,
while the temperance - prohibition advocates who joined the Washingtonian
societies were eminently so. That is, one way to view what happened
after November 1840, when the Baltimore Washingtonians began to have
meetings which were open to the general public, is that a substantial
number of temperance - prohibitionists came to the meetings. The temperance
- prohibitionists chose to define their activities with respect to the
Washingtonians as "lending support;" in political language
we might say that the respectables had "infiltrated" the Washingtonian
societies. While in the early period it is clear that they did not "take
over," the temperance prohibitionists did seek to influence the
attitudes of the converted drunkards and heavy drinkers as well as the
policies of the societies. I will examine the process as it took place
in two north New Jersey societies, pointing out how the temperance prohibitionists
sought to shift the emphasis of the Washingtonian temperance societies
from "moral suasion" to "legal suasion.11. Further, when
it became possible to do so, the temperance - prohibitionists bypassed
the Washingtonians and thereby accelerated their decline.
While
the discussion that follows will focus on Newark and Paterson, New Jersey,
it is necessary to begin with some attention to the beginnings of the
Washington Temperance Benevolent Society of New York, for the origins
of the Newark and Paterson societies were both related to the missionary
activities of the New York society. As reported in the Journal of the
American Temperance Union, we can trace the beginnings of the New York
Washington Benevolent Society to news about events in Baltimore. In
a letter to the editor in the January 1841 issue of the Journal of the
American Temperance Union, John Zug reports that from 5 April to 12
December 1840 the membership of the Washington Temperance Society of
Baltimore grew from the original 6 founding members to about 300 members,
two-thirds of whom were said to have been "reformed drunkards."
In the same issue of the Journal there is a report of a speech by a
Mr. Pollard at a Maryland Temperance Convention held late in 1840. We
know now that Pollard was a Washingtonian, but the editor of the Journal,
apparently unaware of this fact, made no connection between the reference
to Pollard and the letter by Zug, which was printed several pages later.
In the February 1841 issue of the Journal of the American Temperance
Union, an unsigned letter from Baltimore dated 19 January 1841 states
that "Benevolence, philanthropy, patriotism and piety have united
in the erection of the proudest monument which has ever graced the most
favored city of Christendom. Men, women and children fired with a holy
seal, are employed assiduously in collecting materials for this noble
work, whose base shall rest upon the rock of truth and whose top, though
not expected to 'reach to heaven, I shall be guided by the unclouded
rays of truth, and glitter in the effulgence of a 'sun that shall go
down no more.
The
author of the letter adds that there had developed in Baltimore (by
inference as a consequence of the Washingtonian activity) a network
of "local and auxiliary associations...formed on the aggressive
principle, and meet every, and some of them twice in each week, where
crowded assemblies, with an enthusiasm rarely seen on any subject, listen
to and applaud their deliberations and plans of operations, which hundreds
are coming forward, anxious to participate in the honors of this bloodless
triumph."
This,
then was the dramatic news from Baltimore to New York where the Journal
of the American Temperance Union was published. By late February or
early March the Baltimore Washington Temperance Society had grown to
1200 members with several auxiliaries numbering about 1500 more. These
data are taken from a circular letter of the Baltimore Washington Temperance
Society that was published in the March 1841 issue of the Journal of
the American Temperance Union Announcing plans for a grand temperance
celebration on 5 April 1841, the first anniversary of the Baltimore
society. Among the members were drunkards, habitual drinkers, moderate
drinkers and those previously committed to total abstinence who were
part of the organized temperance movement. Further, we know from the
letter of 19 January 1841, cited above, that the membership included
juveniles as well as adults. It seems evident, then, that once the Washington
Temperance Society of Baltimore "went public" in November
1840 there were substantial numbers of persons involved in the society
who were not drunkards or even heavy drinkers. We must, therefore, regard
the report of the New York Herald of 1 February 19841 that the Washington
Temperance Society of Baltimore had a thousand members "consisting
entirely of reformed intemperate individuals" as an exaggeration,
an exaggeration that was repeated in the Journal of the American Temperance
Society in the report on events in New York City.
The
reports of the activity in Baltimore excited the interest of the Executive
Committee of the New York Temperance Society, and they invited the Washington
Temperance Society of Baltimore to send a delegation of reformed men
(5). The visit began on 26 March and continued for more than a week;
more than 20 meetings were held in the largest churches in the city
and in the park; nearly 2000 persons signed the total abstinence pledge
for the first time, and on 29 March 1841 the Washington Temperance Benevolent
Society of New York City was formed. By 4 October 1841, it claimed to
have 2263 members, 4 city auxiliaries with 600 members and 4 "country"
auxiliaries with 1280 members; in that 6-month period it had sent out
62 speakers. Several of these speakers went to Paterson and Newark.
Clearly, the New York City temperance society was able to mobilize energy
and talent for its cause on a much greater scale than had ever been
done before, and this activity was directed not only to the city but
to the surrounding areas as well.