In the diary, Hopper implores individuals, often those with known histories of intoxication, to take the temperance pledge, which was created and implemented by the American Temperance Union circa 1833. 

Before the American Temperance Union formed, the temperance movement was organized by the American Temperance Society, which was organized in Boston in 1826. The founding the Society in Boston marked the beginning of the organized temperance movement in the United States. In the proceeding years, hundreds of temperance societies formed, beginning as local institutions and ultimately developing into larger national entities.[1] By 1831, temperance societies across the country claimed membership of over 100,000. In fact, in 1832 the executive committee of the temperance societies in New York estimated a total of 1,500 societies across the state with membership over 200,000.[2] The goal of these state societies was to demonstrate to the public the dangers of alcohol and promote abstinence from spirits. In particular, the state temperance societies aimed to

show incontestibly, that the excessive use of [ardent spirits] is the severest scourge with which our nation is visited: and you know that all drunkenness commences in the moderate use of them.[3]

In a National Circular published in 1850 by all of the local societies, spirits are listed as the root of all problems in the United States. The Circular reads that “ardent spirit destroys health: ardent spirit creates idleness: ardent spirit ruins character: ardent spirit makes paupers: ardent spirit makes criminals: ardent spirit brutalizes men: ardent spirit destroys domestic happiness.”[4] In all, the local societies aimed to demonstrate to the public the dangerous and harmful effects that alcohol had on individuals and on the nation as a whole.

In 1833, the various temperance institutions formed the first national society, the American Temperance Union, which aimed to enforce total abstinence from all alcoholic beverages.[5] The American Temperance Union adopted the temperance pledge, which it published in its weekly newspaper, the Journal of the American Temperance Union. The pledge to abstain from the consumption of alcoholic beverages was designed to serve as an oath for families, individuals, and those suffering from alcoholism. The pledge reads:

We, the undersigned, do agree, that we will not use intoxicating liquors not traffic in them as a beverage; that we will not provide them as an article of entertainment, or for persons in our employment; and that, in all suitable ways we will discountenance their use through the community.[6] 

In essence, in taking the temperance pledge, individuals agreed to abstain from consuming alcohol, selling alcohol, and advocate for the abstained from alcohol within local communities.

[1] Eugene O. Porter. “An Outline of the Temperance Movement.” The Historian 7, no.1 (Autumn, 1944): 55-56.

[2] Porter, 56-57.

[3] National Circular of the Several State Temperance Societies, to the Citizens of the United States … New York 185?. New York, 1850. Pdf. Accessed March 01, 2019 from https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.12203900/?sp=1&st=text

[4] National Circular of the Several State Temperance Societies …

[5] Porter, 57.

[6] Journal of the American Temperance Union. New York, January 1841. Pdf. Accessed March 01, 2019 from  https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433004085696;view=1up;seq=17