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The '''Woman's Christian Temperance Union''' is an American woman's group based in pietistic Protestant with the mission of purifying the nation, especially by reducing drunkenness and eliminating saloons. The members soon discovered they needed the vote to become politically effective, so they fought for woman suffrage.  

The '''Woman's Christian Temperance Union''' is an American woman's group based in pietistic Protestant with the mission of purifying the nation, especially by reducing drunkenness and eliminating saloons. The members soon discovered they needed the vote to become politically effective, so they fought for woman suffrage.  

The Women's Crusade of spring 1874 led to the organization of the national and state Woman's Christian Temperance Union - the first major women's organization to exclude men. It gave women a sense of solidarity, a public forum in which to train in politics, a broadened outlook, and interdenominational contacts. Members were married, well-educated, affluent, and of main-line Protestant, professional families.<ref>see [http://www.wctu.org/crusades.html WCTU statement</ref> the WTCU was a prominent support force for [[Prohibition]] in the late 19th century.  It had hundreds of local affiliates across the U.S., Canada and Australia.  

The Women's Crusade of spring 1874 led to the organization of the national and state Woman's Christian Temperance Union - the first major women's organization to exclude men. It gave women a sense of solidarity, a public forum in which to train in politics, a broadened outlook, and interdenominational contacts. Members were married, well-educated, affluent, and of main-line Protestant, professional families.<ref>see [http://www.wctu.org/crusades.html WCTU statement</ref> the WTCU was a prominent support force for [[Prohibition]] in the late 19th century.  It had hundreds of local affiliates across the U.S., Canada and Australia. The WCTU was a watershed in the self-perception of women which represented a real, if only partially conscious, commitment to the idea that women could legitimately function in the public realm. Linked backwards to the national issues of abolition and revivalism in the 1830s and continued by the public debate over liquor licensing in 1873-74, the temperance crusade, by working within the traditional bounds of home and morality, widened the accepted spheres of women's activity.<ref> Bordin (1981)</ref>

 

 

==Leadership==

==Leadership==

===Vermont===

===Vermont===

===Publications===

===Publications===

During 1886-1901, the Woman's Temperance Publishing Association (WTPA) in Chicago was the official publishing house of the national WCTU. By 1890, the WTPA employed more than 100 people and produced more than 125 million pages of literature annually. Focuses on the scope and methods of operation of the WTPA, which engaged in a wide variety of publishing and bookselling activities in order to reach the public with the WCTU message. In the 1890s, the proportion of commercial printing of the WTPA's total annual production steadily increased and accounted for two-thirds of the output by 1898. However, the WTPA's profits were adversely affected by the economy of the 1890's, by rapid technological advances in printing machinery, and by conflicts within the WCTU and the WTPA board of directors. These factors led to the company's decisions in the early 1900's to lease the business to the William Johnston Printing Company and to withdraw as an affiliate of the WCTU.<ref> Jane L. McKeever, "The Woman's Temperance Publishing Association." ''Library Quarterly'' 1985 55(4): 365-397. 0024-2519 </ref>

During 1886-1901, the Woman's Temperance Publishing Association (WTPA) in Chicago was the official publishing house of the national WCTU. By 1890, the WTPA employed more than 100 people and produced more than 125 million pages of literature annually. Focuses on the scope and methods of operation of the WTPA, which engaged in a wide variety of publishing and bookselling activities in order to reach the public with the WCTU message. In the 1890s, the proportion of commercial printing of the WTPA's total annual production steadily increased and accounted for two-thirds of the output by 1898. However, the WTPA's profits were adversely affected by the economy of the 1890's, by rapid technological advances in printing machinery, and by conflicts within the WCTU and the WTPA board of directors. These factors led to the company's decisions in the early 1900's to lease the business to the William Johnston Printing Company and to withdraw as an affiliate of the WCTU.<ref> Jane L. McKeever, "The Woman's Temperance Publishing Association." ''Library Quarterly'' 1985 55(4): 365-397. 0024-2519 </ref>

===Sex===

===Sex===

In response to prostitution and venereal disease issues at the turn of the 20th century, the Ontario, Canada, branch of the WCTU took the lead in sex instruction for children. The group strongly encouraged mothers to provide sexual knowledge to their children at home, but the regimen advocated was virtually impossible for most households. The WCTU hired Arthur Beall to provide public lectures on sex to children, usually boys. His lectures mixed hygiene, conservative Christianity, and Canadian patriotism. In 1912 the Ontario Department of Education hired Beall to continue this work. The high percentage of Canada's troops stricken with venereal disease during World War I made venereal disease a military topic and encouraged the physician-led social hygiene movement, whose mother-blaming tactics the WCTU consistently opposed.<ref> Christabelle Sethna, "Men, Sex, and Education: The Ontario Women's Temperance Union And Children's Sex Education, 1900-20." ''Ontario History'' 1996 88(3): 185-206. 0030-2953 </ref>  

In response to prostitution and venereal disease issues at the turn of the 20th century, the Ontario, Canada, branch of the WCTU took the lead in sex instruction for children. The group strongly encouraged mothers to provide sexual knowledge to their children at home, but the regimen advocated was virtually impossible for most households. The WCTU hired Arthur Beall to provide public lectures on sex to children, usually boys. His lectures mixed hygiene, conservative Christianity, and Canadian patriotism. In 1912 the Ontario Department of Education hired Beall to continue this work. The high percentage of Canada's troops stricken with venereal disease during World War I made venereal disease a military topic and encouraged the physician-led social hygiene movement, whose mother-blaming tactics the WCTU consistently opposed.<ref> Christabelle Sethna, "Men, Sex, and Education: The Ontario Women's Temperance Union And Children's Sex Education, 1900-20." ''Ontario History'' 1996 88(3): 185-206. 0030-2953 </ref>