JOURNAL
OF STUDIES ON ALCOHOL, VOL. 39 (9), 1591-1606, 1978.
THE
INSTITUTIONAL PHASE OF THE WASHINGTONIAN
TOTAL ABSTINENCE MOVEMENT
A Research Note
Leonard
U. Blumberg
SUMMARY.
Many of the practices and beliefs of the Washingtonian Total Abstinence
Movement were adopted by reformatory homes for "drunkards"
that were established in Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia in the mid-1800s.
IN
A BALTIMORE TAVERN on 5 April 1840 the Washingtonian Total Abstinence
Movement began as a working-class anti-alcoholism and temperance movement.
As a distinct social movement the Washingtonian Total Abstinence Movement
had a relatively short life; it had largely lost its dynamic qualities
in most parts of the country by late 1844 or early 1845. Within those
few years it had a growth curve that may be characterized by the following
stages:
1.
The movement had a "gestation" period in Baltimore of about
6 to 9 months. Such an inconspicuous beginning and an initial slow development
are typical of social movements. The early development was along friendship
networks; the six founders of the group agreed that at the next meeting
after they established themselves as a society they would each bring
two friends who were also drunkards or heavy drinkers.
2.
This was followed by a growth spurt and the group held a public meeting
in November 1840. To date no newspaper announcement or broadsheet has
been located, so that while we know that the Washington Total Abstinence
in Baltimore "went public" we do not know the exact mechanism
which linked the society with its projected public. But clearly a second
component had been added to the way that the group reached out to find
those relevant to its concern; this probably included the press (both
newspapers and broadsides) as well as the existing temperance organizations
in Baltimore.
3.
There followed a period of relatively rapid expansion to the major population
centers of the United States during 1841 and 1842. This expansion from
Baltimore was initiated by the existing temperance societies which wrote
to the Baltimore Society and asked for speakers. The Baltimore group
facilitated the process by sending "missionaries" to New York,
Boston (by way of Worcester), Philadelphia and elsewhere. One of the
most prominent of these early missionaries was John Hawkins, a hatter
who had become a drunkard and then had been persuaded to stop drinking
by the Baltimore Washingtonians; he proved to be a persuasive speaker
and his story of his "experiences" was melodramatic (1). Hawking
was a star on the temperance-prohibitionist lecture circuit for many
years, having been ordained as a Methodist minister with the understanding
that he would specialize in temperance work. There were others such
as John Gogh, who were caught up in the movement, became powerful speakers
and also achieved middle-class status as a consequence.
4.
A high point was achieved during the spring and summer of 1842. The
expansion into the major cities was quickly followed by a tendency toward
regionalization. That is, Washingtonian missionaries were invited to
small towns and villages of a region; they went because they were filled
with the zeal that was created by their own conversion and by the Washingtonian
caring philosophy. Local temperance groups provided both publicity and
places to meet. It was during this dynamic period that locally and regionally
prominent persons, such as Abraham Lincoln, were called upon (and found
it expedient) to give speeches at the Washington Is Birthday and Independence
Day parade-picnic-demonstrations that were sponsored by the local Washingtonian
Total Abstinence Society. The theme of these speeches was the denunciation
of "King Alcohol" and an analogy between the declaration of
independence from the British crown and a declaration of independence
from King Alcohol. Often there was a rallying cry for the mobilization
of the army of the righteous against King Alcohol, for alcohol was not
only anthropomorphized, but a devil figure as well. The excitement about
the Washingtonian Movement was sufficiently great within some localities
that the local temperance societies (which were probably never very
large in numbers in that period despite their vociferousness) were no
longer able to function. In Boston, for instance, the local temperance
society was unable to conduct its affairs during this period and discontinued
its monthly meetings, the members having voted to join and become active
in the Boston Washingtonian Total Abstinence Society. (While aimed primarily
at drunkards and heavy drinkers, the Washingtonian societies were open
to all persons who signed the pledge.) Thus, the local temperance organizations
not only provided the previously existing network of relationships for
the rapid expansion of the Washingtonian Movement, a phenomenon suggested
by others, but, to use political language, the previously existing temperance
societies "co-opted" the Washingtonians and colonized the
Washingtonian societies also.
5.
There followed a curve of decline into obscurity; most local groups
apparently became moribund in the succeeding years, but there is reason
to believe that Washingtonian societies continued in Boston (at least
into the 1860s), Worcester and possibly in Illinois into the 1870s.
Although
a social movement my be highly controversial and may even be objectively
a "failure" because it did not completely convert the populace
to its program, nonetheless more conservative elements of the population
may adopt programmatic elements or "fragments" of a movement.
Once these programmatic elements become institutionalized as autonomous
entities outside the movement organizations, they have their own course
of development which eventuates in programs which are quite different
from the methods or concerns of the movement. Thus, Hawkins and Gough,
who started as Washingtonian moral suasionists, became prohibitionist
speakers, although they continued to be strongly sympathetic to drunkards.
The Sons of Temperance, a fraternal order, continued the warm fellowship
of the Washingtonians, and Christian temperance revivalists continued
"telling experiences"; but they had Protestant church support
and thereby undercut the anti-clericalism of some of the Washingtonians
(and other temperance-prohibitionist) speakers. In the 1870s the Reynolds
and the Murphy ribbon campaigns, while different in important aspects
from the Washingtonian Movement, emphasized a missionary approach, telling
experiences, the pledge and total abstinence. Reynolds was a physician
and Murphy was a former saloon-keeper; both were former drunkards who
had had conversion experiences.
The
best recent treatment of the Washingtonian Movement is Maxwell's 1950
article (2). His summary of the movement I s practices and ideology
includes the following points: (1) alcoholics helped each other; (2)
the needs and interests of alcoholics were kept central; (3) there were
weekly meetings of members of the various societies; (4) the fellowship
of the group and its members was always available to fellow alcoholics,
whether members of the local Washingtonian society or not; (5) there
was a sharing of "experiences," that is, alcoholics told each
other of their past lives, how they had bested King Alcohol, and the
good things that had come of it (in a way that Americans have come to
label a "Horatio Alger" success story); (6) there was a reliance
on the power of God; and (7) total abstinence from alcohol was advocated
as the only way to meet the problem. To these should be added the following:
(8) advocacy of moral persuasion rather than prohibition legislation
or condemnation of liquor dealers as the means to fight King Alcohol;
(9) heavy emphasis on a total abstinence pledge; (10) a style of spreading
the "good news' through traveling delegations that followed the
biblical model of the Apostles' going two-by-two to spread the gospel
and convert the sinners; (11) organizational decentralization - the
basic unit was the local society, although within several years, at
least in the Boston area, some country organizations and a state convention
also evolved; and (12) a distinct working-class appeal, although persons
of the middle classes also joined and often were prominent at the country
and state conventions. Since the movement had a short life, these higher
organizational levels were not widespread.
