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.3
Composed 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
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.4 Virtually 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,"7
and 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
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.9 The 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
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.l7 In northern Ohio the
presbyteries of Elyria and Grand River
became discouraged as time
lapsed; in southern Ohio a similar
situation developed.l8 The 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
Society of Ohio.
17 Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the
United
States of America (O.S.) (Philadelphia, 1855), 306; ibid. (Philadelphia, 1858), 281.
18 Record Books of Grand River
Presbytery, April 21, 1857; Records of Elyria
Presbytery, September 3, 1861; Central
Christian Herald (Cincinnati), March 5, 1857;
Free Presbyterian, July 29, 1857.
296
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
more liquor was sold and drunk than at
any time within the pre-
ceding three years.19 While
a student at Miami University in the
last half of the fifties, A. F. Jones
praised in his journal the fact
that temperance lectures were given.20
Other entries in his journal,
however, indicate that these lectures
must have had little in-
fluence; in one instance Jones recorded
a fatal shooting due to
liquor, and in another he lamented the
inability of a graduate to
give his commencement address because
of drunkenness.21
The temperance movement in Ohio during
the 1850's was at
times an ambitious and hopeful cause,
but in the end it proved
to be ephemeral. Between 1854 and the
outbreak of the Civil War
the Ohio temperance movement grew
progressively weaker as
moralists abandoned it to join the
antislavery agitation. The move-
ment languished during the war, but
following the internecine
struggle it was revived and
Presbyterians once again took up the
temperance standard.
19 Free Presbyterian,
July 29, 1857.
20 A. F. Jones, Journal, February 15, 1857, April 21, 1858,
manuscript in Coving-
ton Collection, Miami University.
21 Ibid., October 25, 1856, June 30, 1858.