The Alcoholic Republic : An American Tradition

The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition is a very interesting book written by W.J. Rorabaugh which anlyze the high prevalence of alcohol consumption in United States during the early 19th century. When he explains how he started writing the book, he said that when he was looking for a long essay in a particular subject he came across a lot of temperance pamphlets from the 1820’s and 30’s. That is the starting point of writing the book for him. He has stated in the preface Ix that Americans drank more alcoholic beverages percapita than ever before or since between 1790 and 1830. He has mentioned

In the 1920’s they passed the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution that made drinking illegal. This Amendment was more commonly known as the Prohibition; because of this new law, they arrested anyone who they found drinking or selling alcohol, which turned out to be a lot of people. The over populated courtrooms and jail cells became too much to handle and some courts were reluctant to find the defendants guilty. Soon enough alcohol was being smuggled into parties and the police could barely do anything about it. In the article “Prohibition and Its Effects” Lisa states, “People who could afford the high price of smuggled liquor flocked to speakeasies and gin joints. These establishments could be quite glamourous.Whereas

Over consumption of alcohol was becoming a large problem throughout the early 1800's. Alcohol abuse led to less efficiency as well as dangers

People drank more alcohol during this time than any other era. Alcohol was a huge part of everyday life. They drank it for many reasons, fear of unsanitary water, its medicinal properties and to keep them warm. Average Americans drank 8oz of alcohol on a daily basis. They had it with breakfast, lunch, dinner and also in the evening. They drank many different types of alcohol such as beer, rum, wine and a mix of other concoctions. One explanation for drinking so much alcohol was that the English had claimed that water was bad for your health. They felt that it was unsanitary and this may have been true during this time period. A “healthy” substitute for water was beer which was thought of as a type of food. Beer often replaced water as a daily drink. Children consumed beer in place of water. Many believed only the very poor drank water. It was even believed that it was bad for your health to drink cold water on a hot day. It was better to drink warm beer on a hot day. There were signs posted to warn people of this belief. When the Pilgrims came to America they brought more beer than water. Settlers of the frontier began to turn corn into whiskey as a substitute for beer. They felt this gave them strength to endure the manual labor that was required of living in the wilderness. Ingredients found in beer did not grow well in some parts of the colonies and soon cider became a popular drink. Apple orchards were

Till 1827, the idea of sobriety was practically non-existent in North-America . Taverns were open at all times of day and were a place of encounter for everyone – regardless of class, race and gender. Moreover, they facilitated ‘political negotiations, economic exchanges and interracial sociability . So, where did the idea of reducing alcohol consumption come from amid the booming socio-economic stability that taverns seemed to provide?

From the first years in American history, we have drank. Records of the first Europeans on America’s mainland tell about the colonists’ "great thirste" after their original supplies of European-made alcohol ran out. The settlers made their own wine. Eve Alcohol was imported from all over the world. Innovative colonists made alcohol from almost anything. One song from the 1700’s went like this:

Have you ever remembered the time people against the consumption of alcoholic beverages? It was the temperance movement which began in the early 19th century in order to reduce drunkenness. Nevertheless, the temperance movement promoted government to make the prohibition in the society. Citizens were not allowed to drink the alcohol and banned the alcoholic affected America to maintain their social harmony. Moreover, citizens especially the drinkers’ children developed more slowly and they were more liable to the accident so that the temperance movement can easily educate the alcoholics. For these reasons, the temperance movement should be justified as the most influential event in the U.S. History.

The temperance movement of the 1800’s compelled Americans to consider the impact of alcohol consumption on society. The temperance movement was one of many reforms taking place during the 19th century. Other reforms taking place in America were women’s rights, abolition, prison and asylum reform, education reforms, and religious awakenings. The common element in all of these reforms is the awareness and desire to improve society and thus American lives. This essay examines the temperance movement and its successes and failures.

During the early 1900s, around the 1920s, groups such as the National Temperance Council (NTC) and the Anti-Saloon League (ASL) saw numerous problem in America and said problems were described by these groups to be the result of alcohol. According to Dr. S.S. Goldwater, who spoke at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the National Temperance Council on September 20, 1920, alcohol was society’s nemesis and caused mass harm in the forms of higher rates of poverty, industrial accidents, major organ diseases, pneumonia based deaths, and tuberculosis. He also said alcohol was responsible for/aided in muscle tone and memory degeneration, weaker immune systems, too much pressure on hospitals, asylums, and jails, and decreases in skill, the production of

“Reformers had long since believed that prohibiting the sale of alcohol would improve social conditions, reduce crime and family instability, increase economic efficiency, and purify politics... But many social groups, especially in urban ethnic communities opposed Prohibition and the government could not enforce the law where public opinions did not endorse it,” (The American Journey Ch.24 Pg.705). Ironically prohibition led to a surge in crime as bootleggers began to smuggle alcohol openly. Fundamentalism or a strict adherence to religious teachings was relevant throughout America as supporters regarded as admirable, rivals argued that it was just superstition that interfered with important politics and social affairs.

When alcohol is integrated into a society, it is consumed in organized situations that adhere to community norms. Situations such as "family meals…weddings, funerals, ordinations, church raisings, court days, militia training days, corn husking, and haying all required ample amounts of alcohol" (Blocker 4). Alcohol was frequently brewed at home, making it a noncommercial, wholesome drink. The consumption also did not lead to a growing temperance movement because it was difficult to see the drunkards outside where they could be problem. At this point in American history, the drunkards were distributed in isolated farms instead of concentrated streets in cities and towns (Ezell 69 pg 169 of american temperance book). Alcohol was consumed among both women and men, children and adults, and in family or community environments, so it was not seen as an importunate issue within the colonies.

Throughout the eighteen hundreds saloons were the site of rockus drinking, profane drunkards, and unthinking violence. This drinking culture was defined by masculinity and by free flowing alcohol that permeated all throughout America, city to city. The saloons became so popular with working men because it was time they could spend away from their wives and their homes. In Catherine Murdock’s book Domesticating Drink she argues that these elements of saloon culture, exclusivity, inebriety, and violence, were eliminated by the increase in popularity of mixed sex speakeasies, cocktail parties, and the overall domestication of drink. But this conclusion misinterprets the history of alcohol from Prohibition to the present. Although alcohol is now consumed without the exclusively of the past, it has evolved to be over sexualized and associated with a masculine culture of binge drinking over sexualized and domestic violence.

In the early 1900’s, many Americans, including women and Anti-Saloon activists, were promoting an “alcohol free society”. These activists believed that alcohol was the cause of high crime and other down falls of American society (Okrent, 2010). A group called the Anti-Saloon League (ASL) soon became one of the biggest contributors to Prohibitionists groups. They contributed money and also ideas that would help to make the idea of an alcohol free country, also known as a dry country, a reality. The ASL toured the country discussing their viewpoints with many different types of people in order to attain the American people support. The ASL discussions really reached out to one person in the crowd especially, Wayne B. Wheeler (Okrent, 2010).

I was very one sided as I walked into a AA meeting. I thought that the meeting where boring and little bit too much for people who wont to stop drinking. I couldn’t understand why people look forward to these meeting when they can simply talk to someone at home. Nevertheless, I was wrong. Hearing these people story who suffer from alcohol addiction was very heart breaking. I remember one story about this man losing his son to car accident. The only way he dealt with the pain of losing his son was to drink. He stated ever night he drunk him self-asleep. He was so adamant about telling his story because if it wasn’t for the hospital staff he would have lost his life. Alcoholism is an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. alcohol is the main common substance abuse in the united states. The reported show over 16.3 million adults over 18 years older had a least try alcohol in the life time. 71 percent reported that they drank in the past year. 4.7 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month. 6.7 percent reported that they engaged in heavy drinking in the past month. 50 percent of marriage fell due to the spouse drinking uncontrollably (Burke, 2015)

In the early 1810’s whiskey became the most popular American drink because it was cheaper than milk and beer. A man named Lyman Beecher influences a movement entitled “Temperance movement.” This movement is when Americans needed to use alcoholic beverages in moderation or give it up completely. This movement has a great impact on the American social development because liquor was served as a “table beverage” meaning people would usually have liquor with their meals. This also impacted America’s social development because, with the Temperance, Act Americans had to find another way to hydrate themselves because the water is usually contaminated during this time period so the American people wouldn’t be able to drink it. Many Americans found this movement difficult because they had to resist temptation and build self-control.