For God and Home and Native Land essays

For God and Home and Native Land essays In Illinois during the year 1900, temperance and prohibition were prominent issues on the social and political stage. The temperance movement found most of its adherents in middle-class women. Urban women saw the linkages between poverty and alcoholism, while many rural women were aware of how the isolation of farm life amplified the horrors of alcohol abuse. The temperance movement was directly related to the women's suffrage movement going on across the country. The temperance movement enabled the women of 1900 to express their opinion on a matter of importance (Early WCTU pg 1). Many people of Illinois did not feel that women should speak out about what they believed in. A example of this is shown in an interview with Mark Hanna, who was a high government official in 1900. He said, If women are going to waste their opportunities over inferior work for which in they are unfitted they will fail in the grosser undertaking of caucuses and political campaigns. His opinion was that women had no right in demonstrating their beliefs and that they should stay at home and rear children instead of trying to change the world (Hanna on Women Suffrage pg 2). However, that did not stop the women of 1900. Many local unions of the Womens Christian Temperance Union were formed and attended by local women. A union in Springfield, Illinois was led by Mrs. Aaron Anthony. At each of the union meetings, a devotional was conducted. Many contests and charities were also given in order to help raise money for the cause. Speeches were also given by the members on subjects of importance to them (Temperance Union: Local Organization Entertained at the Home of Mrs. Aaron Anthony pg 6). Many women took Carrie Nation as an example and went and stood in bars and sang hymns until everyone who entered was too ashamed to drink. They also petitioned against the alcohol. Historians say that the women picked alcohol as a top...