Title Image Temperance Alternatives

In 1876, abstainer Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president. His wife, 'Lemonade Lucy,' was the first college-educated First Lady and a temperance activist. During the Hayes presidency, no liquor was served at the White House.

Temperance activists knew that if alcohol was removed from the culture, replacements would be required – both beverages to replace liquor and pastimes to replace public and private drinking. Fruit juices, carbonated sodas, and even plain cold water were offered in taverns and homes. Cookbooks suggested substitutes for alcohol in cooking and baking, and special temperance grocery stores sprung up in cities. A variety of activities could take up the hours previously reserved for drinking, and temperance activists suggested venues other than taverns for relaxation and congeniality.

C.E Hires Company. Hires Improved Root Beer. Philadelphia, 1883.
Trade card for C.E. Hires, a Philadelphia-based business, identifying root beer as a "delicious, sparkling and wholesome temperance drink." Testimonies on the reverse of the card proclaim the beverage’s medicinal qualities: H.G. Fulton of Kendall, Kansas writes that it "seems to cleanse and purify the system as nothing else will do. My little boy feels much better than he did before using it."


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