Alcohol was a very prominent part of American life in the Revolutionary period and into the early nineteenth century. Workers and masters would commonly bond over brewed beer and distilled hard spirits, and scholars estimate that Americans, especially men, consumed up to four times as much alcohol in the late 18th century as they do today. During the 1830s and 1840s, however, the “temperance movement,” which opposed the consumption of alcoholic beverages, became increasingly popular around the country, ultimately leading to the passage of “dry laws,” or legal prohibitions on alcohol, in many states. The spread of temperance occurred alongside a broader movement for social reform that included the rise of evangelicalism, commonly called the Second Great Awakening, as well as the prominence of social reform movements, such as abolitionism.
Think about the substantial social and economic changes that the United States experienced in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, as increasing numbers of Americans left rural agriculture to work for wages in cities. Factory production expanded, cities grew in size, and immigration from European countries like Ireland increased. Consider how demographic changes and different relationships between workers and the owners of factories and businesses changed social relationships, and how those changing relationships influenced the drive for social reform.
Write an essay (750 words minimum) that describes the spread of the temperance movement in the 1830s and 1840s. Your essay should explain how social changes, including the rise of industrial production and the breakdown of the traditional apprentice system, contributed to increased opposition to alcohol. In addition to describing the importance of class, your essay should also discuss the role of gender. In particular, why were women particularly strong supporters of the temperance movement?
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