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Temperance Rebus, 1885

Rebus from the National Temperance Advocate, 1884-1886 p. 207. The solution is: "What harm can there be in a glass of beer? None, my man, in one or two. 'Tis harmless and you're safe unless the glass of beer should get inside you." View the original source document: WHI 43013

The nineteenth century was a time of dramatic change in the United States. Industrialization caused people to leave rural areas and flock to urban ones. Waves of immigrants arrived at eastern port cities. Cheap land on the frontier and continual acquisition of new territory prompted thousands to set out for the West. In addition to the social and economic changes migration brought, many Americans also saw a decline in religious and moral standards. They felt that the country was becoming too secular.

Morality

Many concerned citizens proposed means to increase the country's morality. Several national societies were founded to preserve freedom through the word of the Lord. Other societies were devoted to ending slavery and alcohol consumption. The 1830s and 1840s were the Wisconsin Territory's biggest era of church organization. Churches sent missionaries and organized societies to recruit new members, reform existing communities and open schools. 

Temperance

The temperance movement was one of the first social reform efforts in Wisconsin. The first temperance society west of Lake Michigan was founded in Green Bay in 1832. Leaders of the movement tried especially hard to encourage sobriety among immigrants. But many foreigners held different attitudes toward alcohol than their white, mostly Protestant neighbors. Advocates of temperance only alienated immigrants by attempting to stop alcohol sales and production.

Slavery

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The Capture of Joshua Glover

The Fugitive Slave Act allowed escaped slaves such as Joshua to be captured and returned to their masters View the original source document: WHI 40836

Before the Civil War, few Wisconsin residents were concerned by the issue of slavery. However, sympathy for fugitive slaves was common in Wisconsin, and grew as the years passed. By the 1840s, many Wisconsin residents began organizing to discuss slavery reform. They formed the Territorial Anti-Slavery Society in June of 1842. The group merged with a branch of New York's Liberty Party in 1846 to form the Wisconsin Liberty Party Association.

One of the antislavery movement's rallying points was the American Freeman, an abolitionist newspaper based in Waukesha. The paper's editor, Sherman Booth, attained national attention when he rescued and advocated for Joshua Glover, a fugitive slave. Booth was arrested for helping Glover escape to Canada, and charged with violating the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Glover's legal battle led the Wisconsin Supreme Court to nullify the federal Fugitive Slave Act on the basis of state's rights in 1855. 

Utopian Communities

Other social reformers enacted changes besides prohibition and abolition. 71 Wisconsin residents established a community called Ceresco in 1844. It was situated in what is now Ripon. The founders were inspired by French social philosopher Charles Fourier. He believed that the cure for social ills was to form small, harmonious communities. Residents of Ceresco planted crops and constructed dwellings and mills. They formed a committee on children's education, circulated literature, observed temperance and conducted religious services. Although economically successful, Ceresco disbanded in 1849. It was not the only experimental community in Wisconsin, however. Others included the Spring Farm Phalanx, the Pigeon River Fourier Colony and Hunt's Colony.

[Sources: The History of Wisconsin vols. 2 and 3 (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press); "Abolition Activism in Wisconsin" Wisconsin Local History Network (online at http://www.wlhn.org/topics/abolition/about.htm); Kasparek, Jon, Bobbie Malone and Erica Schock. Wisconsin History Highlights: Delving into the Past (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2004)]