The Whiskydia Newsletter: Uncovering the Truth About Carrie Nation and the Temperance Movement

2024-05-01 13:59:13

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Members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union pose for a photo expressing their position on alcohol. The person wearing black clothing in the upper left corner is Carrie Nation. /Kansas State Historical Society

“Let’s break it, let’s break it!” “For the love of Jesus, let’s break it!” »

A woman in a black dress, from top to bottom, rushes into the bar, holding a hatchet and shouting energetic slogans. He smashed the windows with bricks and bats and trashed the bar with billiard balls and a bat. I threw away everything I could get my hands on. The woman in the black dress used the same method to sequentially defeat up to six bars in one night, as if she were on tour. As hymns were sung and scriptures were read, the bar was returned to its original form.

A hotel bar located in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Property was damaged by Carrie Nation. /Kansas State Historical Society

“I ran straight to the back bar. First, I broke the bar mirror and threw the liquor bottles on the floor. After overturning the counter, they broke the tap on the beer keg refrigerator and cut all the rubber hoses connected to the beer keg.

“As I picked up the slot machine and threw it, the sharp edge hit the oak barrel and alcohol sprayed out in all directions like an explosion. “At that point I was completely soaked. »

This is how the woman with the hatchet describes the situation at the time in her autobiography.

One afternoon in June 1900. The person responsible for the disturbance in a Kiowa village in Barbour County, Kansas, United States, was the Caroline Amelia Nation. Carrie Nation for short. Carrie was feared by bartenders because of her height of 180 cm and her weight of 80 kg. People who got into trouble while drinking will probably remember him as a hatchet-wielding reaper.

American activist Carrie Nation holds a hatchet and a Bible. /Kansas State Historical Society

Carrie Nation was an American activist. He believed that alcoholism was a social scourge and considered alcohol and cigarettes taboo. Carrie begins to attract attention by violently attacking drunks with an ax and a Bible. As a result, Carrie was arrested several times and even spent time in prison.

◇Unstable childhood

Born in 1846, Carrie was raised by a father in debt and a mother suffering from mental illness. At the age of 19, she married Charles Gloyd, a doctor, but this did not last long. Gloyd was an alcoholic. Gloyd, who was unable to wean himself off alcohol even while Carrie was pregnant, died of alcoholic pneumonia two years after their marriage. It was the first time in Carrie’s life that she realized the seriousness of alcoholism.

Carrie, now widowed, raised her children and at the same time graduated from Warrenburg State School in 1872 and received a teaching license. But not everything goes smoothly either. Carrie is fired for teaching unusual pronunciation to her students. Carrie, increasingly distrustful of society, immediately needed help. At the same time, Carrie remarried David Nation, a lawyer and newspaper editor 19 years her senior, but they were unable to overcome their personality differences and financial problems.

Carrie takes a job as a hotel manager to overcome her financial difficulties. Over the years, Carrie became more and more dependent on religion, and one day her faith deepened when she heard a “commandment from God” to fight alcohol. In this way, Carrie participated in the Kansas branch of the WCU (Woman’s Christian Temperance Union), a Christian women’s organization, and became active in the movement for women’s rights and the prohibition of the sale of alcohol. .

Women’s rights activists were enthusiastic about temperance. The 1800s were a time when the number of alcoholics was rapidly increasing as the brewing industry flourished due to the influx of Irish and German immigrants to the United States. At the time, the biggest victims of alcohol were women and children. Men who wasted all their living expenses in bars and committing violence at home began to be exposed as a social problem.

◇Carry Nation goes bass hunting with an ax

Carrie didn’t start her “bar hunt” with an axe. The start was relatively gentle. He would sing hymns outside the bar or say to bartenders on his way to work, “Hello. It was a greeting that said: “You, destroyer of the souls of men! At the time, the perception that alcohol was bad became widespread in society, but it did not lead to a ban. Carrie, who was dissatisfied with the results of the temperance movement, decided she could no longer communicate, so she took an ax and began destroying the bars. He justified his method as a “revelation from God” and said he felt no guilt. Tired of Carrie’s somewhat excessive appearance, her second husband finally decides to divorce her.

Carrie Nation and her supporters destroy a bar in Kansas, USA. /Kansas State Historical Society

Women’s groups in the Christian temperance movement began to support Carrie’s appearance. Thanks to Carrie’s support, the intensity of the atrocities became more and more intense. The dark black and white suit reminiscent of the movie “Pulp Fiction” became Carrie’s iconic outfit, and the Bible and the ax chilled many men’s hearts. He often took cigarettes out of men’s mouths and threw them on the ground. In 1907, he even took to the lawn to berate the president for allowing wine in the White House and was kicked out.

Members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union each have a small ax attached to their clothing. /Kansas State Historical Society

Carrie was arrested by the police and imprisoned more than 30 times for vandalism over a 10-year period beginning in 1900. However, Carrie accepted everything as God’s will and continued her activities as soon as she was released. As he continued to be imprisoned, his followers grew and replicas of the hatchet Carrie used to hunt bass sold like hot cakes. This allowed Carey to cover her fines through a regular speaking tour and profits from hatchet memorabilia.

But maybe that was because I was too enthusiastic. Carey died after collapsing on stage during a speech in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in 1911. Nine years later, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which contained regulations on alcohol, was ratified and on the 16th January 1920, the Prohibition Act went into effect, making the manufacture, sale, and distribution of all alcohol in the United States illegal.

In fact, Carrie advocated for the rights of the poor and homeless throughout her life and also engaged in several charitable activities. However, because of his extreme way of expressing his dislike of alcohol, all other good deeds were buried. The monument where Carrie lies today is engraved with the words “I did what I could.” This is what he said at the end of his speech.

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