The Lincoln–Lee Legion was established by

Anti-Saloon League The Anti-Saloon League, now known as the American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems, is an organization of the temperance movement in the United States. Founded in 1893 in Oberlin, Ohio, it was a key component of the Progressive Era, an ...

-founder

Howard Hyde Russell Howard Hyde Russell (October 21, 1855 – June 30, 1946) was an American lawyer and clergyman, the founder of the Anti-Saloon League. Biography Howard Hyde Russell was born in Stillwater, Minnesota on October 21, 1855. He was educated at Gris ...

in 1903 to promote the signing of

abstinence Abstinence is the practice of self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol (drug), ...

pledges by children. The organization was originally called the Lincoln League, named after

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

. However, in 1912 it was renamed the Lincoln–Lee Legion, adding a reference to

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

in order to make it more appealing to southern children and their parents. The pledge called for a lifetime commitment to abstain from alcoholic beverages: "Whereas, the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage is productive of pauperism, degradation and crime; and believing it our duty to discourage that which produces more evil than good, we therefore pledge ourselves to abstain from the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage". Pledge signing drives were heavily promoted at churches, Sunday schools, and temperance meetings. Girls who signed the pledge were called "Willards," after

Frances Willard Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard (September 28, 1839 – February 17, 1898) was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women's suffragist. Willard became the national president of Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 187 ...

of the

Women's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...

. Northern boys were called "Lincolns" and southern boys became "Lees." By 1925, over five million children had signed the total abstinence pledge cards.

References

Engs, Ruth C. (ed) ''The Progressive Era's Health Reform Movements''. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. Odegard, Peter H. ''Pressure Politics: The Story of the Anti-Saloon League''. NY:

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

, 1928. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln-Lee Legion Temperance organizations in the United States 1903 establishments in the United States