Quiz for American Voices:
Saving the Nation from Drink

Question

1. According to Lyman Beecher, intemperance was a problem in cities and towns in the 1830s because it

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. In this selection, Beecher emphasized the idea that alcohol led Americans to drink away their wages rather than taking care of themselves and their families, increasing poverty and creating a financial burden for temperate Americans whose taxes were used for poor relief.
Incorrect. The answer is b. In this selection, Beecher emphasized the idea that alcohol led Americans to drink away their wages rather than taking care of themselves and their families, increasing poverty and creating a financial burden for temperate Americans whose taxes were used for poor relief.

Question

2. Lyman Beecher’s message was directed at which of the following groups?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. Beecher’s message was directed at the middle-class men and women in the North. He encouraged this group to work to spread its values to America’s growing working class and to promote temperance by abstaining from alcohol.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Beecher’s message was directed at the middle-class men and women in the North. He encouraged this group to work to spread its values to America’s growing working class and to promote temperance by abstaining from alcohol.

Question

3. Lyman Beecher argued that intemperance was caused by sin, but Abraham Lincoln suggested that excessive drinking was an inevitable result of

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. Lincoln did not argue that excessive drinking came from sin, but rather that it was one of the evils that came with freedom.
Incorrect. The answer is d. Lincoln did not argue that excessive drinking came from sin, but rather that it was one of the evils that came with freedom.

Question

4. According to Abraham Lincoln, what group was the most effective force for temperance in the United States in the 1840s?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is a. Lincoln argued that former alcoholics who told their stories were the most effective advocates for temperance in the United States. This group, more than any other, he suggested, had the knowledge and the experience to convince others about the negative effects of drinking.
Incorrect. The answer is a. Lincoln argued that former alcoholics who told their stories were the most effective advocates for temperance in the United States. This group, more than any other, he suggested, had the knowledge and the experience to convince others about the negative effects of drinking.

Question

5. According to American Temperance Magazine, the ultimate cause for the persistence of drunkenness in nineteenth-century America was

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. American Temperance Magazine suggested that liquor profits were the primary cause of excessive drinking in the United States, arguing that “If it were possible to reason the drunkard into sobriety, it would not be possible to make the rum-seller forgo his filthy gains.”
Incorrect. The answer is c. American Temperance Magazine suggested that liquor profits were the primary cause of excessive drinking in the United States, arguing that “If it were possible to reason the drunkard into sobriety, it would not be possible to make the rum-seller forgo his filthy gains.”