Quote: " Temperance was an acceptable outlet for the reformist energies of women during the last decades of the nineteenth century. Unlike earlier woman's rights and woman's suffrage advocacy, which implied at least a redefinition of woman's sphere, temperance work could be done by a "true woman". Because brothels were often attached to saloons, alcohol was perceived as an inducement to immorality as well as a social and economic threat to the home. *Women who struggled against its use were affirming their piety, purity, and domesticity." (Campbell, 10)
Question: Do you believe woman's suffrage rights should have extended out of the abolitionist movement rather than the temperance movement, due to women activists' immense contribution to the cause? Is it not the least bit ridiculous that woman's suffrage rights derived from WCTU's partnership with the church and working to protect their domestic sphere of influence from alcohol abuse, rather than their activist conventions, protests, etc.?
Spot on with the questions. It seems odd, slightly hypocritical, and above all unconventional that women would pursue their rights through the church which historically provided a rather oppressive space for women. Their rights extending out of abolitionists seems like the more natural progression in their social progressiveness. With men creating 'male only anti-slavery societies', it seems like a huge wasted opportunity for men to help assist women in their plight to gain rights.
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