Ohio History Journal

PRESBYTERIANS IN THE OHIO TEMPERANCE

MOVEMENT OF THE 1850's

by DONALD K. GORRELL

The agitation for the abolition of slavery which pervaded the

Ohio scene during the decade preceding the Civil War was ac-

companied by other reform movements, one of which sought to

curb intemperance. In that age no other cause, with the exception

of abolition, was pressed more by moralists than that of temperance,l

and no other group was more prominent among the advocates of

temperance than the Presbyterians.

During the early years of the fifties, temperance reform was

promoted zealously by orators, many of whom were Protestant

clergymen. In northern Ohio Dr. Alfred Nevin, pastor of the

First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, was active in addressing

mass temperance meetings, and in the southwestern part of the

state the Old School Presbyterian clergy, directed by a resolution

of the Presbytery of Cincinnati, preached vigorously in support of

temperance. Even at the opening of the Cincinnati Theological

Seminary in 1852, the Rev. James B. Moffat included a note on

the seriousness of the evil of intemperance in the midst of his

sermon on Biblical criticism.²

From one end of the state to the other Presbyterians opposed the

sale and traffic of liquor. Some, like Joseph Brady, were active

in the Sons of Temperance, a national secret society founded in 1842

at Teetotaller's Hall in New York.³Composed of subordinate,

grand, and national divisions, this organization had a membership

of more than 35,000 by 1846, and had as its fundamental principle

total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors. The secrecy of the

1 Eugene H. Roseboom, The Civil War Era, 1850-1873 (History of the State of

Ohio, edited by Carl Wittke, IV, Columbus, 1944), 220.

2 Daily True Democrat (Cleveland), June 25, 1850; Presbytery of Cincinnati

Session Records, VIII, September 12, 1850, at Historical and Philosophical Society

of Ohio, Cincinnati; James B. Moffat, Biblical Criticism as an Object of Popular

Interest: An Address Delivered at the Opening of the Third Session of the Cin-

cinnati Theological Seminary, of the Presbyterian Church (Cincinnati, 1852), 14.

3 Joseph Brady Journal, 1849-51, February 20, November 6, 7, 8, 27, 1850,

manuscript in Covington Collection Miami University.

292

Presbyterians in the Ohio Temperance Movement 293

Presbyterians in the Ohio Temperance Movement 293

Sons of Temperance, whose members were pledged not to "make,

buy, sell, nor use as a beverage, any spirituous or malt liquors,

wine or cider," was widely attacked. Some Ohio Presbyterians,

like the Rev. David McDill, were as opposed to the efforts of secret

societies working for temperance as they were to intemperance

itself.⁴Virtually all Presbyterian leaders fought the liquor traffic.

Despite an admitted increase of intemperance in the Western

Reserve, the Presbyterian churches of northern Ohio recorded that

their congregations still advocated temperance.⁵ The Synod of Cin-

cinnati enjoined its officers "to a more diligent & efficient use of

all proper means for the suppression of intemperance," the penalty

for violation being excommunication.⁶

In 1853 the temperance movement in Ohio reached its zenith

for that decade. In the state election for that year the chief issue

was the adoption of a law similar to the celebrated Maine Law,

which prohibited the sale and traffic of liquor. Thoroughly in accord

with their earlier position on temperance, the Presbyterian churches

not only urged the enactment of the desired legislation but also

engaged in the agitation of the issue. Two years before the exciting

election of 1853 the Synod of Western Reserve had resolved, "by

petition or otherwise," to induce the state legislature to "prohibit

the sale of intoxicating drinks,"⁷and one year before the election

Grand River Presbytery had indicated that diligent efforts were

being made to secure the adoption of a prohibition law.⁸

Immediately preceding the election of 1853, Presbyterians exerted

4 P. S. White and H. R. Pleasants, The War of Four Thousand Years: Being a

Connected History of the Various Efforts Made to Suppress the Vice of Intemperance

in All Ages of the World . . . (Philadelphia, 1846), 276 et passim; Marion Morrison,

ed., Life of David McDill, D.D., Minister of the United Presbyterian Church . . .

(Philadelphia, 1874), 78.

5 Ohio Observer (Hudson, Ohio), October 2, 1850; Record Books of the Grand

River Presbytery, 1829-1870, February 5, September 7, 1850, at Western Reserve

Historical Society.

6 Synod of Cincinnati Session Records, September 19, 1844, to October 15, 1863,

September 19, 1850, in Covington Collection, Miami University. In 1851 a resolution

was adopted which declared the sale or manufacture of "ardent spirits" a just

term of excommunication. Ibid., October 2, 1851. John McGraw was excommunicated

from the church of Lockland, Ohio, for intemperance, November 26, 1852. Lockland

First Presbyterian Church Session Records, April 6, 1850, to October 14, 1870 . .., at

Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio.

7 Ohio Observer, October 1, 1851.

8 Record Books of Grand River Presbytery, April 10, 1852.

294 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

294 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

strenuous efforts to stimulate their fellow Christians to approve

prohibition. Whether in the conservative Old School, the more

liberal New School, or in the radical Free Presbyterian Church, the

form of the agitation was strikingly similar.⁹The reformist Chilli-

cothe Presbytery of the Old School stated the prevailing sentiment

briefly in this resolution: "Resolved, That we will use our earnest

and unwearied efforts to secure a law, in this state, similar to the

Maine Liquor Law, and that we advise our church members to do

the same.^"10 A special paper was prepared on the subject by the

Synod of Cincinnati, and a vigorous editorial campaign was waged

for temperance reform by the aggressive Free Presbyterian, then

being published at Albany, Athens County.¹l

This agitation, however, was insufficient to secure the passage

of an Ohio law resembling the Maine Law, for the state as a whole

was not ready to adopt prohibition. Probably as a partial result of

the individualism of frontier days, the people balked at this pro-

posed imposition on their personal liberty, and the temperance

issue was overwhelmingly defeated in 1853. Although it never

again attained major proportions in the fifties, temperance agitation

continued in a mild form throughout the decade.

The Presbyterian churches of the state continued to support the

movement, but their interest in this reform diminished as their

interest in the antislavery movement grew. For about two years

after the rebuke of 1853 the Presbyterians continued their con-

certed attack on the evils of intemperance. In 1854 the New School

Synod of Ohio urged that Presbyterians elect to the Ohio legislature

only men pledged to the enactment of a prohibition law.12 Some

churches reported that no ground had been lost in their temperance

9 Presbytery of Cincinnati Session Records, VIII, September 5, 1853; Records of

the Presbytery of Elyria, October 25, 1842, to September 15, 1863 ..., at Western

Reserve Historical Society, September 13, 1853; William E. Hunt, History of Early

Presbyterian Churches in the State of Ohio, manuscript at Western Reserve His-

torical Society.

10 R. C. Galbraith, The History of Chillicotbe Presbytery, from Its Organization

in 1799 to 1889 (Chillicothe, Ohio, n.d.), 199.

11 Synod of Cincinnati Session Records, September 29, 1853; Free Presbyterian

(Albany, Ohio), August 10, 24, 1853. The Free Presbyterian was moved to Yellow

Springs, Ohio, in April 1854.

12 Historical Sketch of the Synod of Ohio from 1838 to 1868 (Cincinnati, 1870),

28-29.

Presbyterians in the Ohio Temperance Movement 295

Presbyterians in the Ohio Temperance Movement 295

movements, and others continued to urge that further attempts

be made to secure a prohibition law in Ohio.13

Frequently the Presbyterians sought to combine the temperance

agitation with the energetic antislavery movement, but following

the enactment of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the rising tide of the

antislavery crusade engulfed the temperance movement. Failing

to secure legislation to regulate "demon rum" and its disciples, the

Presbyterian churches turned to strict enforcement of the temper-

ance clauses of their church disciplines. Sometimes a committee

was appointed to investigate habitually intemperate members of

a congregation.14 In one instance a church revived a dormant action

against an intemperate man and upon further investigation caused

him to be excommunicated.15 It became an ordinary procedure for

churches violently opposed to the liquor trade to refuse Christian

fellowship even to those who sold grain to the distillers.16

As the end of the decade approached, the temperance movement

lost ground at a precipitous pace. The Old School General As-

sembly, which had previously praised temperance as "the common

cause of the philanthropist and the Christian," refused to take

further action to condemn intemperance.l⁷In northern Ohio the

presbyteries of Elyria and Grand River became discouraged as time

lapsed; in southern Ohio a similar situation developed.l⁸The Rev.

Joseph Gordon bewailed the fact that in 1857 at Yellow Springs

13 Record Books of Grand River Presbytery, April 18, 1854; Ohio Observer, May

3, 1854; Records of Elyria Presbytery, October 3, 1854.

14 Reading Presbyterian Church Sessional Records, II, December 6, 1854, March

25, 1855, at Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio; Presbyterian Church,

Oxford, Ohio, Records, Third Church, February 10, August 15, 22, 1855, July 4,

1858, in Covington Collection, Miami University; Old Reading Presbyterian Church

Sessional Records, January 3, 1839, to October 14, 1870, June 17, 1862, at His-

torical and Philosophical Society of Ohio.

15 Cleves Presbyterian Church Session Records, I, October 22, November 5, 12,

1851, January 25, February 4, May 4, 8, 18, 1854, at Historical and Philosophical

Society of Ohio.

16 Free Presbyterian, September 13, 1854; J. H. Gillespie, The Story of the First

Church in Brown County, Ohio . . ., manuscript at the Historical and Philosophical