In 1794 Dr. Rush published an essay entitled A Medical Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits upon the Body and Mind, in which he argues that the habit- ual use of distilled liquors is useless, pernicious, and uni- versally dangerous, and that their use as a beverage ought to be wholly abandoned. Still the blow was aimed at distilled spirits only, and the true ground of reform was not yet reached.
In 1808 a society was formed in Saratoga Count}', N. Y., which seems to have been the first permanent or- ganization founded for the purpose of promoting tem- perance. It was called "The Union Temperate So- ciety of JNIoreau and Northumberland." The members pledged themselves not to drink any distilled spirits or wine, nor offer them to others, under a penalty oftwenfy- five cents. The penalty for being intoxicated was fifty cents. All this looks ridiculous now ; but it was a bold movement for those days, and the projectors of it were, no doubt, duly abused as madmen and fanatics.
Still, the day was dawning. Religious bodies began to awake. In 1812 the General Assembly of the Pres- byterian thurch adopted a report which urged all the ministers of that denomination to preach on the subject, and warn their hearers " not only against actual intem- perance, but against all those habits and indulgences which may have a tendency to produce it." The Gen- eral Association of Connecticut, the same year, adopted a report prepared by Rev. Lyman Beecher, which rec- ommended entire abstinence from all distilled liquors. Thus they reached, in 1812, the position which John Wesley occupied and inculcated \\\ his " General Rules" in 1748. The same year (1812), the Consociation of Fairfield County, Conn., published an appeal which goes one step further. It says, " The remedy we would suggest, particularly to those whose appetite for drink lb strong and increasing, is a total abstinence from the
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use of all intoxicating liquors." This, they admit, " may be deemed a harsh remedy," but they apologize for it on the ground tliat "the nature of the disease absolutely requires it."' The consociation, at the same time, made a practical beginning of reform by excluding all spiritu- ous li(inors from their meetings.
In liSlo the .Alassachusetts Society for the Suppres- sion of Intemperance was formed in Boston. The so- ciety, however, aimed only to suppress '• the too free use of ardent spirits and its kindred vices," and therefore accomplished little. Still, all tliese movements called public attention to the evil, and kept men thinking. Tlie spell of inditTerence was broken, the discussion be- came more earnest and thorough, and appeals, sermons, and pamphlets began to issue from the press. Fore- most among these writers was Kev. Justin Edwards, pastor of the Cluirch at Andover, Mass., who afterwards occupied a still more prominent place in the reform movement. In 18-23 Dr. Kliphalet Nott, president of Union College, published a volume of ScriiKnin on the Evils of fiitempeiance, y\hk'h greatly aided the reform. lu January, 182G, Kev. Calvin Chapin published in the Connecticut Observer a series of articles in which he took the ground that the only real antidote for the evils dep- recated is total abstinence, not only from distilled spir- its, but from all intoxicating beverages. His position, however, was generally regarded as extreme, and he had feu- immediate converts to his opinions.
In February, 18-26, chieHy through the instrumental- ity of Dr. Edwards, a few friends of the reform met in the city of Boston, and organized the American Tem- perance Society. The pledge was still tlie old one — ab- stinence from ardent spirits — but the movement was nevertheless an advance, inasmuch as the object of the society was to inaugurate a vigorous campaign through- out the country. In April, Kev. William Collier estab- lished in Boston the first newspaper devoted to the cause. It was called The National Philanthrojnst, and was published weekly. This same year (1826), Lyman Beecher published his famous Six Sermons on Temj)er- ance, which in burning eloquence and powerful con- densations of truth have not been surpassed by any- thing since written on the subject. The reform was now fairly begun. In 1827 there were state societies in New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Illinois, while two hundred and twenty local socie- ties, scattered through these and other states, enrolled an aggregate of thirty thousand members. Men of the highest character and position were identified with the reform, such as Dr. Justin Edwards, Dr. Day (president of Yale College), CJen. Lewis Cass, Edward C. Delavan, and eminent physicians, such as Drs. Massey, Hosack, and Sewell. About this time L. M. Sargent published his Temperance Tales, thus bringing into the battle a new and powerfid weapon.
The reform made rapid progress. In 1831 there were state societies in all but live states, while the local or- ganizations numbered 2-200. In 1832 Gen. Cass, the secretary of war, abolished the spirit ration in the army, and issued an order prohibiting the sale of distilled liq- uors by sutlers. This action, however, seems to have been repealed by some one of his successors in office, as we find Gen. IMcClellan, thirty years afterwards, issuing an equivalent order in reference to the Army of the Po- tomac. The secretary of the navy also issued, in 1832, an order offering the men extra pay and rations of cof- fee and sugar instead of the spirit ration. In 1833 there were 5000 local societies, with more than a million of members, of whom it was estimated that 10,000 had been intemperate, 4000 distilleries had been closed, and 1000 American vessels sailed without liquor.