Quakers and Temperance

Beginning in colonial times, as Friends gave themselves increasingly to maintaining themselves as "a peculiar people," they became interested in another social concern-temperance. As one early writer pointed out, they began intensively "to labour for a Reformation in Respect to the Distilling and Use of Spirituous Liquors amongst Friends and the Polluting Practice of keeping Taverns, Beerhouses, etc." Apparently these efforts were rewarded with some success for they began to report "a number of Friends having Used Spirituous Liquors very Sparingly in the time of our late Harvest and others have with great satisfaction used none at all."

As Friends moved westward, their influence in the temperance cause was felt. It is of some significance that all of the temperance legislation in Indiana prior to the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment was championed by Friends. Furthermore, Quaker women rallied to the support of the crusade. For a number of years the presidents of the Ohio Woman's Christian Temperance Union were Friends.

Mount Pleasant reflected this concern for temperance. In 1837 the village had a society favoring total abstinence and in 1840 a temperance society was organized, which included many non-Friends as members. When John Hogg, one of the town's wealthiest merchants, began to stock liquor along with his other merchandise, it stirred considerable protest. His refusal to listen to the pleas of the temperance people led in 1851 to a concerted campaign by the Quakers and other religious denominations to discourage this business. Twelve men and twelve women, on horseback, visited every home in the township with petitions to be signed requesting that Hogg stop selling whiskey. All but two men signed, and Hogg quit selling the intoxicating beverage. Near the end of the nineteenth century, when a saloonkeeper attempted to set up business in Mount Pleasant, a substantial fund of money was collected to campaign against his saloon. A picket line of members of several denominations was organized in shifts from 6 A.M. to 10 P.m. to take the names of any patrons of the establishment. After three days and only one customer, the saloonkeeper recognized "the handwriting on the wall" and quietly capitulated and left.