Non-Partisan National Women's Christian Temperance Union was an American temperance association organized at

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, January 22, 1890, as a protest against the attitude of the

Woman'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 ...

(W.C.T.U.) toward political parties.

History

The organization was formed by women who objected to political action taken by the W.C.T.U., an objection which already had caused some secession from that body.

organized a non-partisan union in 1886, and there were various other non-partisan bodies subsequently formed. When the Non-Partisan National Woman's Christian Temperance Union was organized,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

had already followed Ohio's example, and was represented in the new movement by a State union. The first annual convention was held at Alleghany City, Pennsylvania, in November 1890, subsequent to a call on October 28, 1890, for a National convention of the Non-Partisan National Woman's Christian Temperance Union:— Other State unions formed in at least 14 States and there was a district union in the District of Columbia. The work of this organization was almost wholly educational, its efforts being to reach every class of the population, child, youth, and adult, with proven facts regarding the drink habit and traffic. The Seventh Annual Convention was held in Washington, D.C., December 1897. At the Eighth Annual Convention of the Non-Partisan National Women's Christian Temperance Union, held in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, January 1898, the officers elected were: President,

Annie Turner Wittenmyer Annie Turner Wittenmyer (August 26, 1827 – February 2, 1900) was an American charitable organization leader, known for social reform, relief work, and her writing. She served as the first National President of the Woman's Christian Temperance ...

; vice-president, Mrs. T. B. Walker; corresponding secretary, Ellen J. Phinney; recording secretary, Etta B. Hurford; treasurer, Mrs. H. M. Ingham. In the same year, a new organization was formed at Cleveland, the Educational Temperance Confederation. In addition to the Non-Partisan National Women's Christian Temperance Union, it included the

International Organisation of Good Templars The International Organisation of Good Templars (IOGT; founded as the Independent Order of Good Templars), whose international body is known as Movendi International, is a fraternal organization which is part of the temperance movement, promoti ...

, the W.C.T.U., the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America, the Royal Templars of Temperance, and the

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 ...

. Its object was to make known the hygienic effects of alcohol, by means of illustrated lectures. The work was carried on by an executive committee composed of two members from each of the affiliated organizations. In 1903, the officers of the union were: President, vacant; vice-president, Mrs. E. B. Harford; general secretary, Ellen J. Phinney; treasurer, Clara Rankin Coblentz; recording secretary, Emma A. Fowler; evangelist and organizer, Isabel Plumb. The organizations efforts were directed through several departments, each having its secretary, which in 1903 were: educational, Susanna F. Savery; legislative, Lydia H. Tilton; Sunday-school work, Mrs. H. S. Ellis; rescue work, Agnes C. Paul; industrial training; army, navy and marine corps work, Rachel C. Levy; young people's work, Clara Rankin Coblentz; evangelistic, Eliza A. Potter; and editor, ''Temperance Tribune'', Laura Rosamond White.

References

{{Authority control Woman's Christian Temperance Union Temperance organizations in the United States Temperance movement in Ohio Conservative organizations in the United States 1890 establishments in Ohio History of women in the United States Women's organizations based in the United States Christian women's organizations Organizations established in 1890 Christianity and society in the United States Christian temperance movement