Introduction : Carrie Amelia Nation was perhaps the most famous person to emerge from the temperance movement —the battles against alcohol in pre-Prohibition America—due to her habit of attacking saloons with a hatchet.
She has been the topic of numerous books, articles and even an opera, titled Carry Nation, which premiered in at the University of Kansas. Born Carrie Moore in Garrard County, Kentucky, Nation attributed her passion for fighting liquor to a failed first marriage to an alcoholic. She got her myth-making last name from her second husband, David Nation. Official records list the former, and she herself used that spelling most of her life; the latter was used by her father in the family bible.
Upon beginning her campaign against liquor in the early 20th century, she adopted the name Carry A. Nation mainly for its value as a slogan, and had it registered as a trademark in the state of Kansas. Carry was not a strong child, but she learned to read and spent much time with the Bible. In , she married a young physician, Charles Gloyd, in Belton, Missouri. Unfortunately, he was a heavy drinker. Live TV. This Day In History.
History Vault. Middle East. Art, Literature, and Film History. Great Britain. Space Exploration. Sign Up. Cold War. World War I. She would go into a pharmacy that legally sold alcohol by prescription for medical purposes and destroy it. At times, she would attack the individuals who sold the alcohol. But a trip to New York City was ineffective. However, famous boxer John L. Sullivan reportedly ran and hid when Nation burst into his saloon in that city. But she increasingly became a symbol of aggression rather than of temperance.
Carry and her husband agreed on few things. They argued about religion. She would help needy people by taking them in. This greatly inconvenienced him and her stepchildren. While she was traveling, her husband sued her for divorce. The grounds were cruelty and desertion. She had refused to let him go with her on her travels.
He received the divorce after the trial in She told a crowd that he secretly drank and that drinkers always got what they deserved. Cary Nation was about six feet tall and a strong and formidable woman. She physically attacked those who sold alcohol. But she also suffered assaults. Her lecture circuit included Canada and the United Kingdom. We co-operate with the Prohibition Party. But we go a step further, making it a crime to manufacture or sell intoxicating liquors for any purpose.
Her venture failed. Nation seemed more skillful at destroying than at creating. Near the end of her life, Nation moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. She wanted a quiet place to live. It also reminded her of Scotland, where she had traveled. She owned the house until her death, although she continued to travel. However, Nation was not a good manager of her finances. She died with little money and lay in an unmarked grave.
It was next to her mother in Belton, Missouri. The WCTU later erected a large gravestone with her name and a quote. It is now a National Historic Landmark. However, feminist historian Fran Grace suggests another legacy. Carry Nation died in That was nine years before her goal of National Prohibition came to be. It proved to be a failure that created very serious problems. Yet nearly one of five adults U.
Even more support neo-prohibitionism. Perhaps her efforts were not in vain. A radical feminist, Carry Nation was also a sexist. Carver, F. From Sanctuary to Saloon. The Religious Pilgrimage of Carry A. Harvey, B. Carry A. Saloon Smasher and Prohibitionist. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, Elementary and junior high. Miller, B. Women of the Frontier.
Chicago: Chigago Rev, Caldwell, D. Carry Nation, A Missouri woman, won fame in Kansas. Missouri Hist Rev , 63 4 , As she got older, Nation began having visions and became increasingly religious. Her husband also bnecame a preacher, the historical society writes.
The union, founded in , had the goal of banning alcohol because of the suffering it caused to families—specifically to women and children whose male relations drank to excess. At a time when women lacked legal rights and recourse and had to depend on male breadwinners for some or all of the family income, an alcoholic and perhaps violent spouse was a big deal. The union proposed to cure these vices through empowering women to vote and through the social ministrations of middle-class white women.
Nation took a more direct-action approach to the prohibition crusade than many of the women who surrounded her. On this day in , she used a hatchet to smash up the bar at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas.
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