American Temperance Society
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2008-03-23T21:40:04Z
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{{Cleanup|date=October 2007}}
The '''American Temperance Society''' was established in Boston in 1826. Within five years there were 2,220 local chapters in the U.S. with 170,000 members who had taken a [[pledge]] to abstain from drinking [[alcoholic beverage]]s. Within ten years, there were over 8,000 local groups and more than 1,500,000 members who had taken the pledge.
The society benefited from, and contributed to, a [[reform]] sentiment in much of the country promoting the [[abolition of slavery]], expanding [[women’s rights]], [[temperance]], and the improvement of society. Possibly because of its association with the [[abolitionist movement]], the society was most successful in northern states.
After a while, temperance groups increasingly pressed for the mandatory [[prohibition]] of alcohol rather than for voluntary [[abstinence]].
The American Temperance Society (ATS) was the first U.S. social movement organization to mobilize massive and national support for a specific reform cause. Within three years of its organization, ATS had spread across the country.
==Sources==
*[http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1124913901.html History of Anti-Alcohol Movements in the U.S.]
*[http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1091124904.html National Prohibition of Alcohol in the U.S.]
*[http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:Ou2iary1XU8J:xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/every/life.htm+%22American+Temperance+Society%22&hl=en University of Virginia]
*[http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:ESztHIG1iUgJ:www.wesleyan.edu/libr/schome/amezion/case3.htm+%22American+Temperance+Society%22&hl=en Temperance (Wesleyan University)]
*Young, Michael P. (2007). ''Bearing Witness against Sin: The Evangelical Birth of the American Social Movement''. University of Chicago Press
[[Category:Temperance movement|American Temperance Society]]
[[Category:Temperance organizations|American Temperance Society]]
[[Category:1826 establishments]]
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