Читать книгу Benjamin Drew. The Refugee. Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada онлайн

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The temperance movement, born out of the “Protestant asceticism and its work ethic” (Stewart 7), unfolded, then, as concerned with the inculcation of Protestant values and the regulation of work and society, and got established as one of the most important reform movements of the nineteenth century in North America. Temperance evolved from a zealous, religious movement into a more worldly concern as it was considered that alcohol altered social factors such as labour, behavior and even the economy. Nevertheless, controlling individuals became more problematic when the United States became a slave society, which led to the assumption that metaphors of enslavement began to permeate temperance along the nineteenth century. Sooner than later, temperance and abolitionism joined forces and ideologies. Both became international movements with roots in Protestant evangelism and reform that sought to eradicate such social evils from society. In fact, temperance joined abolitionism and women’s rights as “the most prominent reform movement in the nineteenth century – and it was intertwined with both movements as the foundation of either moral or civil behavior” (Stewart 8). Thus, the abolitionist movement assumed the fight for temperance as a part of their intellectual and social concern and, more particularly, they thoughtfully focused on the removal of the purported intemperance drive of Black slaves.