S he §ons of Temperance
They were a powerful “roup in the clays
prior lo Ihe War Koluec»n Ilie Slates anil
lliey did some* effective work until they
began to dabble in politics.
el'-N KIkA I. temperance societies
began In In* organized in North
<'uwlina
м
round 1X22 both ns
ini expression of iln' broad henevo-
1*41 1 movement of tin- period and for
• In* diversion which such societies
would afford. Often these groups,
which supported au “entire abstinence
pledge" anil denounced "the intem¬
perate use which is daily made of
ardent spirits." were combined with
library and literary societies. As
early a. IMS. however, the religion*
denomination* began to stir up feel¬
ing along this line; it was in that
year the Reverend James Hall, a
graduate of Princeton and a well-
known Presbyterian minister in the
western section of the state, urged
delegate- at a «late-wide meeting held
at Centre Church in Iredell County
to form auxiliary brandies of the
"Moral Association for the suppres¬
sion of Vice and Immorality." whieli
the North Carolina Synod of their
church was sponsoring.
Probably the very first step taken
in this state toward prohibition was
shortly prior to 1800 when the Legis¬
lature began to allow town commis¬
sioners to decide who should be al¬
lowed to -ell liquors to the public. By
I860 this privilege had been extended
to nearly twenty-live towns. Xewspa-
|« r. began to take up the temperance
cry in 1819. The HYs
Carolinian
in it- July 25, 1820, issue quoted. a
reformer of the period who said that
public drinking was "very prevalent
in what i- called the higher circles."
He described how a group of voting
fellows about town would “get to¬
gether, drink until they are shameful¬
ly intoxicated, and then call it taking
a frolic! I have known ir to happen,”
he pointed out, "that their friends
had to send for them and put them to
bod."
The First Society
By 1822 "a number of the inhabi¬
tants of Guilford County” had
“foriiiwl them. elves into a society for
the suppression of intein|ierance oc¬
casioned by the immoderate use of
spirituous liquors."
The American Temperance Society
w> organized in Boston in 1S20 and
By IV. S. rowi l l
by IS2S had two societies connected
with it in North Carolina. And in
1830 this had been increased to over
thirty, most of which were in the
Piedmont area. After about four years
these organizations began to drift
away from the American Society ami
soon were a part of the state society
which had Iteeii formed at Hopewell
Academy near Stantonsburg on Jan¬
uary !>. 1828. The North Carolina
Temperance Society, ns it was called,
laid a foundation for auxiliary socie¬
ties in 1831 at n meeting in Raleigh.
Their firM step was to employ a Pres¬
byterian minister. Reverend Thomas
P. Hunt, to tour the state for three
months organizing societies. By 1834
about 1,700 people belonged to the 51
auxiliary societies scattered over 27
counties.
All of this preliminary temperance
work prepared the state for the most
important organization of the move¬
ment — the Sons of
Тет|нтапее.
In
1843 the Sons of Temperance was or¬
ganized in New York ns a fraternal
order and having certain benevolent
features. Just the next year after its
conception, a branch of this order was
formed in Raleigh. In addition to a
total abstinence pledge, the Sons of
Temperance hud its own signs, sym¬
bols and a secret grip. Various offi¬
cers and titles were used in the setup,
but the most common were Worthy
Patriarch, Worthy Associate, Treas¬
urer or Financial Scribe, Worthy Rc-
cording Serihe ami Chaplain. There
was also a sort of mutual aid aspect to
the order, and it “followed a member
to the grave,” contributing $15 to¬
ward the funeral expenses and $10
for the benefit of the member's wife
or brother. The fee, usually around
five cents a week, also entitled the
member to draw $1 a week for a
«чт
tain length of time in case of illness.
Philip S. White, a nourishing tem¬
perance lecturer, toured the state in
1831 under the s|»onsorship of the
Soil* of Tempera me. He gave iin|**tus
to the movement and bv the end of the
year there were 12,000 members in
21$ divisions of the organization.
By 1351, however, the Sons of
Temperance had begun to dabble in
polities and the next year they en¬
dorsed state prohibition. Typical of
numerous legislative nets of the pe¬
riod is this restrictive measure:
"An Act to prevent the sale of
spirituous liquors within a certain dis-
tance of Antioch Academy in the
County of Robeson.
“Section 1. Be it enacted by the
General Assembly of the Stale of
North Carolina, and it is hereby en¬
acted by authority of the same, that
all persons are hereby prohibited from
selling spirituous liquors within three
miles of Antioch Academy, in the
County of Robeson, to any person or
persons whatsoever, on pain of forfeit¬
ing ten dollars for each and every vio¬
lation of this act; which penalty shall
be recoverable hv warrant before any
justice of the pence having jurisdic¬
tion. by any person suing for the
same, to the use of Antioch Academy,
and applied us the trustee* thereof
may direct.
"See. 2. Be it further enacted, that
this act shall be in force from and
after its ratification.”
Although the Sons of Temperance
had been active nearly ten years, it
was not until 1851 that they actually
became a corporate body in North ( *ar-
olinn. In January of 1851 the Legis¬
lature passed:
“An Act to incorporate the Grand
Division of the Sons of Temperance
of the State of North Carolina."
The Down-grade
In the Carolina Watchman for De¬
cember 13, 1851. a render informed
the public that “there exist* amongst
ue a custom which it becomes us, as
Christians, to protest. I allude to the
prevailing practice of allowing every
petty politician and undignified tem¬
perance lecture to enter our churches,
and there, not infrequently employ
language altogether at variance with
the sacredness of the place."
The Son* of Temperance began to
decline; they bad entered politics and
frequently used chtir dies for meeting
20
