Gender and the American Temperance Movement of the Nineteenth Century

During the nineteenth century, the American temperance movement underwent a visible, gendered shift in its leadership as it evolved from a male-led movement to one dominated by the women. However, this transition of leadership masked the complexity and diversity of the temperance movement. Through an examination of the two icons of the movement -- the self-made man and the crusading woman -- Fletcher demonstrates the evolving meaning and context of temperance and gender. Temperance becomes a story of how the debate on racial and gender equality became submerged in service to a corporate, polit

Self-made men : temperance, identity, and authority in Antebellum America -- Temperance counter-cultures and the coming of the civil war -- Let patriots join hands : the Civil War and the war on alcohol -- Crusading women : the creation of a new temperance icon -- A knitting together of hearts : the Crusader, the WCTU, and the building of a temperance coalition