Document Set C
Temperance
Temperance means to refrain from drinking alcohol. The goal of the Temperance Movement was to
reduce the number of people drinking alcohol or even make it illegal. In 1830, alcohol drinking in the United
State was the highest it had ever been. Temperance reformers believed that alcohol was responsible for most of
the bad things in society. They blamed alcohol for destroying families, child abuse, crime, poverty and poor job
performance.
Temperance Document 1: The verse below is from the song The Drink We
Choose, one of several ballads sung by the Cold Water Army, a children’s
Temperance group in Connecticut during the late 1840s.
The drink, that’s in the drunkard’s bowl is not the drink for me;
It kills his body and his soul; how sad a sight is he!
But there’s a drink that God has given, distilling in the showers of heaven,
In measures large and free; oh, that’s the drink for me.
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Temperance Document 2: The Effects of Drunkenness (1841) from a children’s book
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Temperance Document 3: The Victim of Ardent Spirits (c.1837‐1841) http://www.teachushistory.org/second-great-awakening-age-reform/resources
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Little dears, how they enjoy
Be careful how you dig or you'll
startle the fellow's soul which
must not be disturbed until we
get the body cleaned out.
themselves & how unconscious the
poor wretch seems to be of all that's
going on.
Whew, what horrid smelling brains.
Well I could make better
brains out of a boiled
turnip.
Don't venture down into the bowels
without this safety lamp.
My eye! You've struck on a gold mine, haven't you? Bless you! No. It's only his liver. Just as I expected, the fellow's stomach
has set my wheelbarrow on fire. Document Set C
Temperance Document 4: The Drunkards Progress: From the First Drink to the Grave (c.1800s)
By:
Nathaniel
Currier
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Temperance Document 5: TREE OF TEMPERANCE issued by A.D. Fillmore in 1855
http://loc.harpweek.com
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Temperance Document 6: The Annual Consumption of Distilled Spirits
The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition by W.J. Rorabaugh
http://www.fourpoundsflour.com/category/19th-century/page/3/
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Name:_________________________________________________________________________Date:_________Period:_____
Primary Source Capture Sheet Document Set C
Document
Document 1: The Drink We
Choose
Document 2: The Effects of
Drunkenness (1841)
Document 3: The Victim of
Ardent Spirits (c.1837-­‐1841)
Document 4: The Drunkards
Progress: From the First Drink
to the Grave (c.1800s)
Document 5: TREE OF
TEMPERANCE issued by
A.D. Fillmore in 1855
Describe the type of advocacy
being used in each document
(Who are they writing/drawing to)
What do you see when analyzing this document?
What are they saying in this document?
Document Set C
Primary Source Capture Sheet Document Set C
Why do you think documents like would encourage people to not drink?
After looking at Document 6
Was the Temperance movement’s advocacy successful? Explain how you came to this answer.