Fighting for the Home
For many women, political activism was tied to a sense of moral obligation. Contrary to the idea that the vote would distract women from their traditional roles as wives and mothers, suffragists argued that women sought to wield the vote as a weapon to protect the home. For this reason, suffrage was often tied to the idea of temperance.
The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) had a major following on the Eastern Shore. The WCTU believed in prohibiting the sale of alcohol, which they felt was damaging to the financial, emotional, and physical well-being of the American family. They also concerned themselves with other matters that they believed were relevant to motherhood, such as the education of children and the welfare of working women.
The WCTU hosted rallies and parades for their cause. In 1914, the Maryland state convention for the WCTU was held at the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church in Salisbury, Maryland. The president of the Talbot, Dorchester and Caroline Tri-County Temperance League at the time was listed as Marianne Hardcastle, sister to prominent suffragist Amy Hardcastle Pattison, demonstrating just how closely these movements were linked.