Temperance in Cumberland County.

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History 204 Sp 08 | Political Life | Cultural Life | Economic Life | Essays of 1876

Temperance in Cumberland County

Temperance: A Centennial Allegory (Library of Congress)

In June of 1876, less than a month before individuals from all corners of the country met to celebrate the one hundred year anniversary of America, Philadelphia played host to another congregation. Representatives from both state and national levels of the Sons of Temperance and the State Lodge of Good Templars met for the Women’s International Temperance Convention, hosted by the National Temperance Society. ¹ The temperance movement had come a long way from its meager beginnings, now in this pivotal year sharing the same forum with the Centennial Celebration; but if one contemplates the nature of the movement it is not surprising. The prevalence of alcohol in even the earliest manifestations of American society has remained relatively constant. As early as 1630 colonists brewed their own beer with barley shipped to them from England. ² In the early eighteenth century workmen consumed great quantities of rum, a product made available through the famous colonial “triangular trade,” because of the supposed strength it gave them. ³ The fact that alcohol was so widely consumed can be seen in bartender Jerry Thomas’s 1862 publication of the first cocktail recipe book. ⁴ However, even though Americans have consumed alcohol since even before their country’s official conception, the connotations and perceptions that come along with distilled spirits have greatly fluctuated. Alcohol, while viewed in a positive light by some, was often attributed to the breaking up of families, crime, fighting, gambling, swearing, and even murder. The public response to the negative baggage that alcohol carried is manifested in the temperance movement. One community that serves as a microcosm for the transition of American views on alcohol into temperance is Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. As the national convention for temperance was being held immediately prior to America’s centennial celebration in Philadelphia just one hundred-and-twenty-five miles to the east Cumberland County was embodying the struggle. From being an area that initially thrived through alcohol production and housed a booming tavern movement, to an area that housed a politically strong temperance movement Cumberland County provides a fascinating study of temperance during the nineteenth century, part of the peak of which was during the year 1876.

Cumberland County is no exception to the concept that alcohol has been part of America since its beginnings. In the eighteenth century one area in the county, Upper Allen Township, was known for having a still on almost every farm with most of these farmers making and selling whiskey from the grain they grew. ⁵ In 1785 the borough of Carlisle, one of the oldest and most populated areas in Cumberland County, held twelve taverns and three distilleries. By 1835 Cumberland County held over eighty distilleries and pumped out more than one million gallons of whiskey a year. ⁶ This is not to say that alcohol was completely accepted, as a 1989 article in The Carlisle Sentinel pointed out the “push for prohibition began in colonial times.” ⁷ In fact, in response to the effects alcohol had on the community in 1785 Kline’s Carlisle Weekly Gazette printed that the taverns were, “for yielding liquid fire- would to god there were none for a great deal of misery of the human life, which is daily seen raging in our streets, would be prevented.” ⁸ This is an interesting early view on the role alcohol played in Cumberland County. Not only is this an interesting foreshadowing of the temperance movement that would gain such power in the years to come, but it highlights a major medium through which temperance would be promoted, the newspaper.

Still, in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries alcohol remained popular and temperance organizations did not yet take hold. Temperance was almost viewed in a negative light in early Cumberland County. Not only did residents look upon temperance groups that had sprouted up elsewhere as breaking social norms, but temperance was also seen as a nuisance that that impeded the progress of and persecuted legitimate businessmen. Yet, when the movement began it quickly gained momentum.

The cover page of a temperance song booklet (Library of Congress)

The first temperance society in Cumberland County, aptly named the Temperance Society of Cumberland County, was founded in 1829 in the borough of Carlisle. ⁹ It held fairly rigid views, supporting complete abstinence from drinking. This organization quickly led to the formation of several other temperance groups including The Young Men’s Temperance Society of Carlisle, The Sons of Temperance located in Mechanicsburg, and The Washington Temperance Benevolent Society. As temperance societies formed they seemed to be felt throughout the community. The quick spread of temperance and the kinds of people it attracted is shown well in an 1830 address to the Temperance Society of Cumberland County, one year after its formation. The address was made by the president of Dickinson College, a liberal arts institution located in Carlisle, Reverend Samuel B. How, who while serving as president of Dickinson also held the title on campus of, “Professor of the Moral Sciences.” ¹⁰ Through his approach a lot of insight can be gained about Cumberland County’s early temperance movement and its growth. The movement seemed to attract an intellectual group which can not only be seen through the academic nature of the speaker but also of the language he used. When How said “So many thousand manufactures are there of sin and death pouring forth like a mighty torrent, millions of gallons of liquid more than the fiery lava of Vesuvius,” he provides insight to the intellectual capacity of the movement's early members. ¹¹ The early temperance speech also carries religious references labeling drinking as “dreadful abuse of the goodness of our creator,” ¹² and stating that individuals are “religiously bound” to abstain from drinking. ¹³ How lays out the temperance ideals and exemplifies their rigidity. According to the temperance movement it is not fine to drink in moderation, drinking forces people to commit crimes, gives individuals infamy, and causes death. In fact, How at one point cites Dickinson’s founder, Dr. Benjamin Rush, as saying that a third of individuals held in the insane asylums of Philadelphia and New York were institutionalized because of the, “use of ardent spirits.” ¹⁴

Shortly after How gave his address to the Temperance Society of Cumberland County the atmosphere of the area in general began to change. In 1836 a public school system was introduced in Carlisle and with the 1837 building of the Cumberland Valley railroad the county’s growth rate rapidly increased. ¹⁵ By 1846 Carlisle alone had grown to hold ten churches, forty-eight stores, and a new court house. It counted among its residents twelve physicians and fifteen lawyers. Of course the role of alcohol also was affected by these changes. Early drinking in Cumberland County mainly consisted of local taverns as drinking institutions, but with the arrival of railroads in the 1830s taverns began to convert into hotels. Through this influx of people visiting and traveling through the county the demand for alcohol rose and the business of supplying spirits grew much more lucrative. In response the temperance movement also started to pick up speed. One such event that shows temperance’s growth is at the yearly town meeting in Carlisle on Christmas Day in 1835. The president of Dickinson College at the time, Reverend Dr. Durbin along with John Reed, the president-judge of the court of common pleas passed the following resolution: “Resolved, That the cause of temperance is the cause of humanity, of philanthropy, and of religion; and that all laws licensing or in any way recognizing the traffic in, or sale of, ardent spirits, are erroneous in principle and injurious in practice.” ¹⁶ The idea of temperance, once considered uncouth, was beginning to appeal to more and more people, and as membership grew so did new branches of the movement. St. John’s Commandery, a temperance organization in the county, counted seventy-nine members. A temperance group that called itself St. John’s Lodge was founded in 1852. Another group, St. John’s Chapter, was founded in 1853. In 1868 the Conodoguinet Lodge was founded. ¹⁷

By the time the nation was celebrating its centennial in 1876 the temperance movement was close to its pinnacle in Cumberland County. The year represents a crossroads before the 1880s, in which “the dry movement was peaking in popularity.” ¹⁸ Yet, the prevalence of alcohol had still not dwindled. According to the Cumberland County Clerk of Courts Liquor License Docket for the years 1865-1896 there were 64 applications for liquor licenses in 1876. Forty-four hotels, seven restaurants, and four retailers in Cumberland County were all allowed to provide their patrons with spirits just over forty years after the borough of Carlisle deemed the selling of alcohol wrong through resolution. Only two hotels and seven restaurants were denied licenses. ¹⁹ However, regardless of the presence of the all mighty drink the temperance movement was still in full force.

The most obvious evidence of the extent to which temperance had penetrated 1876 Cumberland County can be seen through one of the county’s most highly circulated publications, The Carlisle Sentinel. Ranging from narratives, to straight news, to even children’s literature elements of temperance were prevalent in almost every issue and spanned across almost every section. A single issue can show this. In the January 7, 1876 issue of the Carlisle Sentinel the first page contains a straight forward news story called “Intemperance in Wine Drinking Countries,” which criticizes France, Switzerland, and Italy for their failure to adapt to temperance and warns these countries about the degradation spirits bring. ²⁰ On the same front page is a special interest piece called “JB Gough’s Appeal for Prohibition.” The article tells the story of a man who used to be a drunkard but has gone the past two years without having a sip. One night he goes to town with his son on business and is coerced by a local bartender to take a drink. One the father starts he is unable to stop and eventually drinks himself dead. The article ends with a quote from the man’s son stating of the bartender, “That man killed my father- Hurrah for prohibition.” ²¹ If that was not enough in that same issue on page six, in a section called “Youth Department,” in an article called “A Day’s Walk,” the temperance movement is discussed to children. The article blatantly states that people who drink are going to hell. ²²

The Sentinel is riddled with these articles covering almost every facet of alcohol consumption imaginable. From parables about a young man who wanders what a just one sip would be like, ²³ to jokes about lawyers who are too intoxicated to stand up in court, ²⁴ to horror stories about children murdering their alcoholic fathers ²⁵ the Carlisle Sentinel, along with the amount of establishments selling liquor, provide a representation of the temperance movement and the conflict it presented in Cumberland County during America’s Centennial. However, the prevalence of this movement could simply be glanced at. In order to understand the tensions and complexity of this situation in 1876 the movement had to be understood from its roots in early Cumberland County. By viewing the temperance movement in Cumberland County as a series of linked events slowly building upon each other and viewing the transition, like the one Herbert Butterfield discusses in his “Whig Interpretation of History,” a true sense of history can be gained.

Bibliography

“A Day’s Walk.” Carlisle Sentinel. 7 January 1876, pg. 6.

“A Sister’s Influence.” Carlisle Sentinel. 21 January 1876, pg. 6.

Barr, Andrew. Drink: A Social History of America. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999.

“Causes of Crime.” Carlisle Sentinel. 4 Febuary 1876, pg. 8.

Clerk of Courts. (Liquor) License Docket of Cumberland County 1856-1896. Cumberland County Historical Society Archives. Carlisle, PA.

“Curious Tom.” Carlisle Sentinel. 14 January 1876, pg. 6.

History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Chicago: Warner, Beers, 1886.

“Horrors of Horrors.” Carlisle Sentinel. 14 January 1876, pg. 2.

How, Samuel Blanchard. An Address on Intemperance: Delivered Before the Temperance Society of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania 1830. http://deila.dickinson.edu/theirownwords/title/0011.htm

“Humorous.” Carlisle Sentinel. 21 January 1876, pg. 3.

“Intemperance in Wine Drinking Countries.” Carlisle Sentinel. 7 January 1876, pg. 1.

“JB Goughs’ Appeal for Prohibition.” Carlisle Sentinel. 7 January 1876, pg. 1.

Powers, Madelon. Faces Along the Bar. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Sellers, Charles Coleman. Dickinson College: A History. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press, 1973.

Schaumann, Merri Lou Scribner. Taverns of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1750-1840. Carlisle, Pa: Cumberland County Historical Society, 1994.

Weinberg, Mark. “Push for Prohibition Began in Colonial Times.” Carlisle Sentinel. 25 February 1989.

Wing, Conway Phelps. History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: J. D. Scott, 1879.

“A Week of Conventions.” New York Evangelist. 29 June 1876, pg 2.