Introduction

Excessive drinking has a long history in the United States, and throughout the nation’s history, groups have organized to fight drunkenness. The best known anti-alcohol effort is Prohibition, the time in the 1920s when the Constitution was amended to allow the outlawing of alcohol. But the battle against the alcohol began many years earlier.

In the antebellum period, the time before the Civil War, a wave of social reforms swept the country, buoyed by a sense that Americans could become perfect—if only they would give up their sinful ways. Reformers faced a serious challenge, however: breaking a bad habit is hard to do.

We know this from experience today. Every year millions of Americans make a New Year’s resolution—to lose weight, stop smoking, exercise more, spend more time with family, or take up a new hobby. How long do the resolutions last?

Changing a society’s behavior is even harder. Just think of all the efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19--things like wearing masks, social distancing, quarantining--and how complicated it quickly becomes. What really works? How do you ensure compliance? Is social pressure enough? Are punishments warranted? Is force justified?

You'll recognize that many of same techniques you're experiencing today were employed in the 19th century by temperance reformers. Have you taken the Armor Up Pledge? That's right from the 19th century! Then and now the basic problem is the same: how do you get people to change their behavior? 

Materials to Read

I've collected a variety of temperance materials at a page I'm calling Strategies of Sobriety.  As you'll see, I've also provided some historical background and brief introductions to each item. Also, notice that the sources come from many different genres: prints and images, fictional stories, song lyrics, a medical report, a statistical table, a law. Though different, they all aim at the same goal of reducing drinking.

Question for Discussion

Of all the different strategies shown in the sources at Strategies of Sobriety, which do you think would have been most likely to reduce drinking? Why would that approach be better compared to the others?

Advice

• As throughout the semester, feel free to take any angle you want. You could even say "none of these will work" or "they'd all work in different ways."
• The best answers will incorporate examples from multiple sources. There are 11 sources, so I don't expect anyone to hit all 11. More realistically, 3-4 would be great. It depends, though, on how you handle it.
• I think a good idea might be to group sources by genre (fiction vs. factual or images vs. text) or by effect on the reader (emotional impact vs. rational appeal).
• It's entirely appropriate to make comparisons to similar campaigns today, such as the various methods of fighting the spread of COVID-19. However, make sure the focus is on the 19th century temperance movement.

Reminders

• You have a choice of 2 discussion questions. You participate in only 1 discussion, however, not both.
• The early posting bonus date is 11:59 PM on Sunday, 10/10. You receive a half-point (0.5) bonus if you post before that date.
• Replies are optional, but you will receive a half-point (0.5) bonus for making a quality reply to another student. Your reply must be in the same discussion topic as your post.

• Please, please, please: Break up your text with frequent line breaks. It's so hard to read a big block of text!