The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Creation of a Politicized Female Reform Culture, 1880-1884.

Frances Willard was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women’s advocate. She taught at a public school, was the president of the Evanston College for Ladies, and became dean of women at Northwestern University. After Willard relinquished her career as an educator she became a reformer in the Temperance Movement. The Temperance Movement was the social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Willard took on the duty of trying to stop alcohol consumption in the United States. She did this without pay for many years and became the secretary of the Chicago Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. While working

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was founded in November 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Social Purity movement in the WCTU was formed in 1877. Its focus was on fighting the double standard of sexual morality. The Committee for Work with Fallen Women attempted to save prostitutes through gospel temperance. In 1885, the name of the committee changed to the Department for Social Purity. The Department’s main focus was to focus on prevention. It applied temporary housing for women fleeing prostitution, "life-saving stations" for young girls entering the city for the first time, and sex education for children. The Department was against pornography and fought to strengthen rape laws.

The Role Women Played in the Social Reform Movements of the Antebellum Period Comprehending the lives of American women and their roles is fundamental for understanding the entire antebellum period in America. The period 1820 to 1870 in the United States was marked by a forceful and widespread debate on woman's roles and their proper vocation whether this be in the home or outside the home and becoming wage earners. This was, however, still a time in which females were encouraged to be pure, dutiful, domestic and compliant by men and the government. On the other hand, due through this, the evident truth was ignored that was that women’s roles were steadily beginning to reach outside the family and

The new republic of the 1830s-1850s was a society that devalued the role of women. By comparing men and women against each other, giving men a superior status, making their differences more evident, and allowing men to demand more rights, to think and do freely, this society has been created to view women as less than. Women are viewed as the weaker vessel and property to their father, or husband that need to be protected and should be wifely, child bearing, motherly and dedicated to their homes instead of viewing women as their own beings.

The Seneca Convention was held in Wesleyan Chapel in New York on July 19th, of 1848 and lasted until the next day, July 20th. Nearly three hundred women- and men- attended this convention, which surprised the organizers because they had only published a single advertisement about it in the local newspaper. (Lusted 12) At the end of the two-day convention, all points from both the Declaration of Sentiments and the resolutions had been approved by the women in attendance and the first major step in the fight for women’s suffrage was complete.

The antebellum temperance reform was not motivated by religious moralism, however, religion did play a part in spreading it. Originally, drinking liquor was a very common thing, “In shipbuilding, workers enjoyed ceremonial provisions of strong drink in addition to their daily rations. At the completion of each major stage of construction they joined with shipowners and masters to toast their work’s progress.” (Rumbarger 268) As a result of how common it became, businesses with employees would constantly be losing a good amount of money to liquor overall for their workers and not receiving the best quality of work from those drunken workers. This can be seen as a republican virtues which is the idea of giving to your community by sacrificing

Carrie A. Nation brought disrespect to prohibition movement bc of her violent campaign; The Anti-Saloon League formed in 1893

With Seneca Falls, 1848, the movement began in earnest. Early suffragists often had ties to the abolitionist movement. (Lecture 18) With the Civil War era, suffragists split over voting rights for black men. There was a need for regrouping and rethinking in the face of a reconstructed nation because there was a push for black men to get the right to vote. There were Women’s Rights conventions every year up until the Civil War, and in 1851, a resolution that “resolved, the proper sphere, for all human beings is the largest and highest for which they are able to obtain”. (Lecture 24) This captures the true essence of both the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the Abolitionist Movement. Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were Abolitionists and a majority of suffragettes were as well as well as involvement with the temperance movement. (Ibid) The question was raised, should women keep advocating for women’s rights or do they need to support the war? This resulted in the pause between 1861-1865 when there was not a women’s convention for the first time. Women were deeply involved with the Union cause and were vital to upholding society and keeping stores in business by serving as “deputy husbands”. (Ibid) Women also had a direct role serving in the war, some served as nurses in addition to some fighting for the cause. Sarah Edmunds Seelye was one of the few who fought under a man’s name, she served under Franklin Thompson for the 2nd Michigan Infantry until she deserted due to

Throughout the course of the Gilded Age, several influential figures rose impacting the economy, political factors, and culture of the United States. One of the most important figures of this time period was Frances Willard, born in New York in 1839. She held several important positions, exceeding as an educator, a women’s suffragist, and a co-founder of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. The fact that Frances Willard held these positions indicates that she contributed to the improvement of the United States, specifically by educating Women, fighting for Women’s rights, and fighting for prohibition. These key roles were complementary to the issues associated with the United States at the time. For example, a significantly low percentage of the population attended college after completing high school. Most of the people that attended college at the time were men. Women were typically held to Victorian standards by society’s expectation of them to stay home to raise children, making it uncommon for them to attend college. In terms of alcohol, Christian churches completely disagreed with and despised the consumption of liquor, leading to the establishment of temperance reform. Frances Willard was the most influential figure of the Gilded Age because of her work through the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union that contributed towards the ratification of the 18th and 19th amendment, prohibiting the consumption or production of alcohol and

In the mid-1800s American women united to participate in social reforms movements more than ever before. This movement’s involved: struggle to abolish slavery, outlaw alcohol, and ban child labor among others (Rupp, 1987). Despite the failure of the women's movement to attain one among its primary goals, the passage of the ERA , the movement overall accomplished an excellent deal. For several women activists, management over their bodies was a central issue in the campaign. Women needed to be liberated to explore and control their gender, while not being judged by society. An oversized a part of management during this arena concerned having access to birth control, or contraception ways (Fishman, 1998). The contraception pill, associate inoculant,

The battle for suffrage was a long and slow process. Many women tried to initiate the fight for suffrage, like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. “These were the New Suffragists: women who were better educated, more career-oriented, younger, less apt to be married and more cosmopolitan than their previous generation.” (pg 17) Eventually, in 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified; allowing women to vote, but it was not any one person or event that achieved this great feat. It was the confluence of certain necessary factors, the picketing and parades led by Alice Paul, militaristic suffrage parties and the influence of the media that caused the suffrage amendment to be passed and ratified in 1920. But most importantly, they successfully moved both

Elizabeth Stanton was an amazing woman and historical figure, who demonstrates what it takes to get a law passed in the United States Government. Elizabeth along with many other women laid the ground work for the women’s movement by organizing the Woman’s Suffrage Movement. The power and influence of these tremendous women grew for many years, and transformed into the National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA). Sadly, Elizabeth was not able to exercise her right to vote in her lifetime, nevertheless, the contributions that she made to the women’s movement will be recognized in history

In November 1917, Carrie Chapman Catt, leader of National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), gave an address to the United States Congress expressing her belief that woman’s suffrage was inevitable, and requesting that Congress see it as such and vote to pass the amendment. Catt’s speech was based on facts and figures (ethos) from our own country’s history, logic, reasoning, and common sense (logos); it was hard for any man to argue with, which was her goal. Catt had given hundreds of speeches in her life, and in this case, she planned her approach to be factual and unemotional to get through to those that thought of women as

This new generation of activists fought with this new agenda for almost 20 years until a few states in the West began to extend the vote to women. The Eastern and Southern states still refused to give in, but this didn’t stop the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1916, Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the NAWSA, worked vigorously to get women’s organizations from all over the country together and fight side by side. “One group of activists, led by Alice Paul and her National Woman’s Party, lobbied for full quality for women under the law” (Divine). She used mass marches and hunger strikes as strategies, but she was eventually forced to resign because of her insistence on the use of militant direct-action tactics (Grolier). Finally, during World War 1, women were given more opportunities to work, and were able to show that they were just as deserving as men when it came to the right to vote. On August 18th, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, allowing women to vote. This drawn-out and arduous battle opened a new window of opportunity for women all over the country. Significant changes in both social life and job availability began to create what is now referred to as the “new women.”

During the 1870s and 1880s, the demands for "equal rights" or "women's rights" faced competition from a new political ideology, "Home Protection," advocated by Frances Willard of the WCTU, Woman's Christian Temperance Union (Isenberg). This new set of ideas did not focus on political equality, but instead focused on traditional values, such as a women’s domestic role. The WCTU would disempower women by placing intimidating thoughts within their heads, especially of them being sexually assaulted by men(Isenberg). Anne Brown