April 25, 2024
Father Matthew Temperance or Prohibition Abstinence Plate From 1850’s
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This plate,showing Father Matthew administering the total abstinence pledge, was probably made around 1849-1851 when he began his famous American tour. His movement against alcohol has its origins in Ireland in April 1838 with the establishment of the Cork Total Abstinence Society, which relied upon one administered pledge to keep a person sober for life, whether or not he currently had a problem with alcohol. There was an unconfirmed rumor that Matthew himself had been a heavy drinker before he saw a vision of a strange bird-man figure who told him to change his ways. So charismatic was Matthew, that his Pledge spread rapidly throughout all of Ireland, and, at its height, approximately half the population of the country at that time swore that they would abstain from alcohol. Father Matthew came to the United States in 1849, and, despite ill health, carried on his work here for the next two years in front of large, enthusiastic crowds. Vice President Millard Fillmore came to visit him in New York. President Zachary Taylor invited him to dine at the White House. During his stay here he travelled to Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Little Rock, and New Orleans among other cities, gaining several hundred thousand converts along the way. When he departed for Ireland, he left a number of strong temperance societies in his wake to carry
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