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Women's Christian Temperance Union

Definition

The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was an organization established in 1874 that advocated for the prohibition of alcohol, believing it to be the root cause of societal problems like domestic violence and poverty.

Analogy

Think of the WCTU as a group of strict parents who believe that removing all sweets from the house will prevent their kids from getting cavities. In this case, alcohol is the "sweet" they want to remove to solve society's "cavities," or problems.

Related terms

Prohibition: This was a constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States from 1920 to 1933.

Temperance Movement: A social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in this movement typically criticized alcohol intoxication or promoted complete abstinence (teetotalism).

Frances Willard: She was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women's suffragist. Her influence was instrumental in passing the Eighteenth (Prohibition) and Nineteenth (Women Suffrage) Amendments to the United States Constitution.