Alcoholism and the temperance movement in early American folk art

Magazine Antiques, Feb, 1998 by Arthur Kern, Sybil Kern

Like so many aspects of early American history, the subject of alcoholism and the resulting temperance movement in the nineteenth century can be brought to life for us today through the works of folk artists. Although intemperance in America did not become an issue until much later, alcoholism was apparently a problem as early as 1633, when, in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, John Holmes was punished for drunkenness by being required "to sitt in the stocks, and was amerced forty shillings."(1) However, there was no serious attempt to limit the use of fermented and distilled beverages, which in some ways were a necessary evil in the days before refrigeration, but were also sometimes considered beneficial to life in the colonies. This ambivalent attitude is well expressed in two statements made by Increase Mather (1639-1723): "Drink is in itself a creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness" and "The wine is from God, but the drunkard is from the Devil."(2) As drunkenness became more common, the moral stigma associated with it declined, but between about 1730 and 1770 alcoholism was so common that many of the social problems of the day came to be blamed on it, particularly on the drinking of rum.(3)

Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) of Philadelphia, one of America's leading physicians during the Revolutionary period and generally considered the father of the American temperance movement, published a book in 1784 entitled An Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits upon the Human Mind and Body, in which he detailed specific vices and diseases directly associated with intemperance.(4) Temperance leaders preached repeatedly about alcohols detrimental effects on health and morality and cried out for abstinence, but despite their warnings, consumption continued to increase, so that by 1790 the estimated annual consumption of alcohol per adult was nearly six gallons, more than double the figure in the United States today.(5) A review of deaths in Boston from 1812 to 1832 has disclosed that only tuberculosis, so-called lung fever, and dysentery caused more deaths than alcohol. Letters and articles in medical journals underscored doctors' beliefs that intemperance contributed to a susceptibility to yellow fever, cholera, and tuberculosis.(6)

In 1826 the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance was founded in Boston, and by 1834 it had one million members. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, organized in Cleveland in 1874, became one of the leading national, and later, international organizations in the drive for temperance.(7) The charming painting in Plate V depicts the large hall in Yonkers, New York, where the local chapter of the organization held meetings. Members of the Connecticut chapter made a folk art tribute to the national organization - a quilt honoring Elizabeth Frances C. Willard (1839-1898), who was its president from 1879 to 1897.(8)

Painted banners, to be hung on the walls or carried during meetings or at public demonstrations, often graphically depicted some aspect of temperance or intemperance. The one in Plate IX includes a broken bottle, a burning whiskey barrel, and a cornucopia filled with the fruit of the vine. American trade unions generally supported the temperance movement, and their banners sometimes carried the temperance message as well. During a celebration on October 8, 1841, for example, the hatters' union of Portland, Maine, carried a banner proclaiming "WE/CROWN THE/SOVEREIGN PEOPLE" on one side and on the other, "UNITED/in the/BANDS of Temperance we are/CROWNED with Honor" [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED].

The Sandwich (New Hampshire) Temperance Society displayed the painted sign in Plate I at its meetings in the East Sandwich Chapel between 1800 and 1900. On it, a snake, a symbol of betrayal and sin, wraps itself around a cup and is inscribed with some of the dangers of alcohol: "REDNESS OF EYES./WOUNDS./BABBLINGS./CONTENTIONS./SORROW."

One of America's noted folk portrait painters, Deacon Robert Peckham of Westminster, Massachusetts, was also a social activist, a dynamic force not only as an abolitionist but in the temperance movement as well. In an address to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Westminster Congregational Church in 1868, the Reverend A. Judson Rich noted that forty years earlier

The subject of temperance (began) to be agitated. In early days when it was customary to drink intoxicating liquors at ordinations, funerals, weddings, and at social gatherings, this town followed the fashion; and a pernicious fashion it proved to be for this community, since many drunkards were made, and for many years the best part of our business was killed off by this ruthless demon.(9)

He went on to report that a temperance society was formed and that Peckham was one of the "warm and earnest advocates for the cause." Peckham summed up his convictions concerning the dangers of intemperance in two small paintings: the fast [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE II OMITTED] depicts a healthy happy family before, and the second [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE III OMITTED], the same family after the father's alcoholism had brought it to ruin.