Skip to main content
Subjects /U.S. History /Assignments /

AP Success - AP US History: Evils of Intemperance

In 1827, Lyman Beecher's "The Evils of Intemperance" highlighted the destructive impact of alcoholism on American society.

Source 1

When we behold an individual cut off in youth, or in middle age...such instances are multiplying in our land...the amount of earnings prevented or squandered is incalculable...the accumulating and frightful expense incurred for the support of those and their families, whom intemperance has made paupers...The receptacles for the poor are becoming too strait for their accommodation...They drink up their daily earnings, and bless God for the poor-house...Thus is the insatiable destroyer of industry marching through the land, rearing poor-houses, and augmenting taxation...squandering property, cutting the sinews of industry...cutting short the date of life, and rolling up a national debt...continually transferring larger and larger bodies of men, from the class of contributors to the national income, to the class of worthless consumers.

Lyman Beecher, The Evils of Intemperance, 1827.

Question 1

Short answer

Briefly identify one evil of intemperance expressed in the excerpt.

Question 2

Short answer

Briefly explain how one historical event or development influenced the ideas expressed in the excerpt.

Question 3

Short answer

Briefly explain one way how the temperance movement of the early 19th century was similar to or different from that of the early 20th century.

Teach with AI superpowers

Why teachers love Class Companion

Import assignments to get started in no time.

Create your own rubric to customize the AI feedback to your liking.

Overrule the AI feedback if a student disputes.

Other U.S. History Assignments

05.04 DBQ Practice: Reconstruction and Its Impact on U.S. Society10/4: Foreign Policy in the Early Republic10/4: Foreign Policy in the Early Republic10/4: Foreign Policy in the Early Republic10/4: Foreign Policy in the Early Republic10/4: Foreign Policy in the Early Republic#10 LHS US History Skills Assessment: War on Terror Level 311.1 Colonial Foundations11.1 Colonial Foundations11.2c: From the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution11.2 CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS (1763 – 1824)11.2d: U.S. Government Foundations: Key Developments and Precedents11.2 Reliability - Declaration of Independence11.3 Reliability - Monroe Doctrine1.2 Compare Native Americans in Two Regions1.2 Compare Native Americans in Two Regions1.3 & 1.4 Extent Transatlantic Voyages affected the Americas1 - 4.6 (a) Market Revolution: Society and Culture1 - 4.6 (b) Market Revolution: Society and Culture1 - 4.8 (a) Jackson and Federal Power1 - 4.8 (b) Jackson and Federal Power1 - 4.8 (c) Jackson and Federal Power1492-1700 Interactions with Native Americans1.4 Extent the Columbian Exchange fostered Change(1.4) SAQ - THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE1500-1750 SAQ1607-1754 SAQ1.6 Change because of Interactions Between Europeans & Native Americans1800-1848 SAQ1844-1877 SAQ1865-1898 SAQ1890-1945 SAQ1920s CCOT LEQ Prompt 1920s: Cultural and Political Controversies1920s Cultural Developments1920s DBQ1920s SAQ1945-1980 SAQ1945-Present Unit Exam Reassessment1950s conformity1950s Conformity and Nonconformity1980-Present SAQ19th c. African American Experience DBQ19th Century Immigration and Economic Growth in the United States19th Century Industrialists: Captains of Industry or Robber Barons1 Doc DBQ Antebellum Women1 Doc DBQ Antebellum Women(1) LEQ: FDR's Response to the Great Depression2000 DBQ: Organized Labor's Success in Improving Workers' Position (1875-1900)2018 AP United States History Document-Based Question (DBQ)