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Moral Reconstruction: Christian Lobbyists and the Federal Legislation of Morality, 1865-1920
Between 1865 and 1920, Congress passed laws to regulate obscenity, sexuality, divorce, gambling, and prizefighting. It forced Mormons to abandon polygamy, attacked interstate prostitution, made narcotics contraband, and stopped the manufacture and sale of alcohol. Gaines Foster explores the force behind this unprecedented federal regulation of personal morality--a combined Christian lobby.
Foster analyzes the fears of appetite and avarice that led organizations such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the National Reform Association to call for moral legislation and examines the efforts and interconnections of the men and women who lobbied for it. His account underscores the crucial role white southerners played in the rise of moral reform after 1890. With emancipation, white southerners no longer needed to protect slavery from federal intervention, and they seized on moral legislation as a tool for controlling African Americans.
Enriching our understanding of the aftermath of the Civil War and the expansion of national power, Moral Reconstruction also offers valuable insight into the link between historical and contemporary efforts to legislate morality.
Foster analyzes the fears of appetite and avarice that led organizations such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the National Reform Association to call for moral legislation and examines the efforts and interconnections of the men and women who lobbied for it. His account underscores the crucial role white southerners played in the rise of moral reform after 1890. With emancipation, white southerners no longer needed to protect slavery from federal intervention, and they seized on moral legislation as a tool for controlling African Americans.
Enriching our understanding of the aftermath of the Civil War and the expansion of national power, Moral Reconstruction also offers valuable insight into the link between historical and contemporary efforts to legislate morality.
- GenresHistory
336 pages, Paperback
First published May 6, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 22, 2019
The book is a detailed history of Christian lobbyists in the U.S. between 1865 and 1920 who attempted to form a Christian nation, either through the piecemeal passage of legislation to address specific "sins" (e.g., sex, polygamy, gambling, alcohol) or to fix the problems of appetite and avarice wholesale by changing the constitution. Boiled down, these activists wanted the installation of God's perfection on Earth through "moral reconstruction," and "to do God's will" by putting "Christ in the Constitution."
As a history, the book is detailed and excellent. The book contains pictures of the main leaders and this was a nice touch to the book. Foster does not, however, discuss the broader context that might explain why Christians care so much about such things and what lies behind a "holier than thou" approach to morality, and why such advocates cannot respect the boundaries between church and state. He also does not discuss how this phase of this country's history perhaps was an extension of the same impulses seen in the Christian crusades and Neo-Platonism, Plato's Republic and The Laws, and the criticism of the Epicureans and Sophists.
Foster ends his book with the prohibition movement and argues that the Christian morality push receded after that due to the deaths of the movement leaders and due to the rise of consumerism which made "avarice" acceptable, though a major pocket remained in the Bible Belt. I thought the book was not especially convincing as to why this push for Christian morality ebbed after 1920. Foster alludes to the similarities to today's religious right movement, but pretty much sticks to his 1920 timeline. What is uncomfortable is that what is seen today seems so similar to the 1865-1920 period that he covers, and to the much deeper Christian and pre-Christian impulses that he does not discuss. This caring too much about how others behave and this lack of tolerance for differences on such matters looks, unfortunately, to be a chronic problem.
As a history, the book is detailed and excellent. The book contains pictures of the main leaders and this was a nice touch to the book. Foster does not, however, discuss the broader context that might explain why Christians care so much about such things and what lies behind a "holier than thou" approach to morality, and why such advocates cannot respect the boundaries between church and state. He also does not discuss how this phase of this country's history perhaps was an extension of the same impulses seen in the Christian crusades and Neo-Platonism, Plato's Republic and The Laws, and the criticism of the Epicureans and Sophists.
Foster ends his book with the prohibition movement and argues that the Christian morality push receded after that due to the deaths of the movement leaders and due to the rise of consumerism which made "avarice" acceptable, though a major pocket remained in the Bible Belt. I thought the book was not especially convincing as to why this push for Christian morality ebbed after 1920. Foster alludes to the similarities to today's religious right movement, but pretty much sticks to his 1920 timeline. What is uncomfortable is that what is seen today seems so similar to the 1865-1920 period that he covers, and to the much deeper Christian and pre-Christian impulses that he does not discuss. This caring too much about how others behave and this lack of tolerance for differences on such matters looks, unfortunately, to be a chronic problem.
December 14, 2020
exceedingly useful for my doctoral dissertation- the #1 useful book for my chapter #4 on late-nineteenth century Christian lobbyists. Forster’s insights into interest groups + the relationship between morality & postbellum government are unparalleled.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews