Temperance took on many meanings in 19th century

The 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1919. The American public tolerated it, in a manner of speaking, for about 14 years and then repealed it — the first and, thus far, only amendment of the Constitution to have been rescinded.

This 14-year interval, during which consumable alcoholic products were prohibited, is viewed by many as a singularly bizarre, crime-ridden interlude in American history — a kinky eccentricity in that flawed ambiguity called the American ethos. It was an interval when bootlegged liquor and speakeasies replaced the corner saloons.

It has thus been assumed by many that this was a short-lived post-World War I period of legislative madness, and that it had no immediate or enduring effect on alcohol-related diseases in the United States. Both assumptions are wrong.

It was not until the technical process of distillation yielded far higher concentrations of alcohol, by then called spirits, that alcohol consumption assumed a major threat to societal integrity.

Early New England clerics, such as the Mathers, father and son, decried the use of spirits.

The 19th century witnessed the coordinated, religion-based temperance movement, extending beyond the Wesleyan efforts. Much of this national movement was directed by women who had seen how liquor consumption by working-class husbands and fathers had sapped the meager physical and emotional resources of their families. This led to formation of the Women's Christian Temperance Union in 1873.

Some in the organization condemned all alcoholic beverages, while others exempted such nondistilled drinks as sacramental wines and beer. After all, they said, the word temperance was derived from the Latin for "moderation," not "exclusion." And so temperance took on many meanings in 19th century America.

For much of the 19th century, persuasion, both written and oral, and appeals to religious faith were the primary weapons deployed against alcoholism. But a more aggressive approach was adopted by those who believed that alcohol's addictive influence was mightier than words.

Temperance infiltrated the sermons of thousands of ministers, and many newspapers and magazines refused to carry advertisements for spirits. Even the American Medical Association went on record opposing spirits used for therapy. Alcoholism thus transformed from a moral into a public-health problem.