Temperance songs

A consistent theme within temperance songs of 19th and 20th century society was that drinking negatively impacted a stable family life and that it was at the center of much suffering.

"Molly and the Baby Don't You Know" is about a father promising not to drink for the sake of his young child and suffering wife.

In this song, a mother hears her child decry that her father's drinking and their poverty leads to her being ignored by her peers.

"A License Party Trick" specifically refers to legislation passed in 1883 in Ohio when Republicans lost the governorship and the majority in the state House and senate.

The legislative defeat was also attributed to the lack of support of German and Irish voters who believed the proposed liquor policies to be overly restrictive.

This genre is seen as racist today, even though Foster also provided music for We Are Coming, Father Abra'am, a song encouraging Northerners to enlist in the Union Army.

[9] James Lord Pierpont, composer of “Jingle Bells,” created temperance songs with the melody of this still popular holiday tune.