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Chronicling America
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Newspaper South-Carolina Temperance Advocate (Columbia, S.C.) 1839-1841 Advocate

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About South-Carolina Temperance Advocate (Columbia, S.C.) 1839-1841

Historians have long interpreted the culture and economy of the antebellum-era South—its reliance on enslaved laborers and tolerance of heavy drinking—as incompatible with the temperance cause championed by evangelical reformers in the Northeast. Yet the cause found its share of southern supporters. They may have been uncomfortable with the national movement’s ties to abolitionism, but they were no less passionately roused by the issue itself. Rather than challenging social structures, southern temperance advocates tended to frame temperance as a matter of personal self-discipline.

The first temperance organization in South Carolina, the Temperance Society of Columbia, was established in 1829; the statewide body, the State Temperance Society of South Carolina, was established in 1832. On January 30, 1839, the Cheraw Gazette and Pee Dee Farmer ran a proposal for a temperance newspaper, declaring, “The increasing prevalence and ruinous effects of the use of intoxicating liquors, call loudly for some decisive measures to rouse public attention to this direful evil….”

The first issue of the weekly Columbia South-Carolina Temperance Advocate, edited by the Reverend Julius J. DuBose, appeared in July 1839. Its contents included general news summaries and price reports in addition to pro-abstinence pieces. Judge John Belton O’Neall contributed a weekly column titled “The Drunkard’s Looking Glass”; O’Neall later served as president of the Sons of Temperance of North America. The Temperance Advocate received accolades but struggled to attract subscribers. On August 1, 1840, the editors of the Camden Journal asked, “Shall the Temperance Advocate go down?”

Beginning July 15, 1841, publisher Isaac C. Morgan relaunched the paper as the Columbia South Carolina Temperance Advocate and Register of Agriculture and General Literature. Its articles appeared in publications as far flung as the Boston New-England Farmer and Petersburg Farmers’ Register, but its viability remained tenuous.

In 1852, Edwin Heriot assumed dual responsibilities for editing and publishing the Temperance Advocate. Heriot brought serious credentials to the task, having previously worked with the literary journals the Charleston Floral Wreath, and Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Magazine and Charleston Southern Literary Gazette. He changed the title back to the South Carolina Temperance Advocate and moved its operations from Columbia to Charleston. Even his talents, however, were insufficient to reverse the Temperance Advocate’s fortunes. Thomas J. Warren, publisher of the Camden Journal, took over the paper later that year. The last issue appeared on May 11, 1854. A generation later, a new crop of newspapers—the Columbia Temperance Advocate, Lexington South Carolina Temperance Standard, and Williamston Temperance Standard—rose up to carry the banner for the temperance cause in South Carolina.

Provided By: University of South Carolina; Columbia, SC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • South-Carolina Temperance Advocate (Columbia, S.C.) 1839-1841

Other Title

  • Advocate

Names

  • State Temperance Society of South Carolina

Dates of Publication

  • 1839-1841

Created / Published

  • Columbia, S.C. : I.C. Morgan

Headings

  • -  Temperance--South Carolina--Newspapers
  • -  Columbia (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  Richland County (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  Temperance
  • -  South Carolina
  • -  South Carolina--Columbia
  • -  South Carolina--Richland County
  • -  United States--South Carolina--Richland--Columbia

Genre

  • Newspapers
  • Temperance newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1839; ceased with July 1, 1841.
  • -  Microfilm available from the University of South Carolina.
  • -  "Published for the South Carolina Temperance Society."
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 2 (July 18, 1839).
  • -  Latest issue consulted: Vol. 2, no. 52 (July 1, 1841).
  • -  South Carolina temperance advocate and register of agriculture and general literature (DLC)sn 95079550 (OCoLC)32404210

Medium

  • 2 volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • AN

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn93067937

OCLC Number

  • 11051376

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

South-Carolina Temperance Advocate Columbia, S.C. 1839 to 1841. (Columbia, SC), Jan. 1 1839. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn93067937/.

APA citation style:

(1839, January 1) South-Carolina Temperance Advocate Columbia, S.C. 1839 to 1841. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn93067937/.

MLA citation style:

South-Carolina Temperance Advocate Columbia, S.C. 1839 to 1841. (Columbia, SC) 1 Jan. 1839. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn93067937/.