Washingtonian movement

The Washingtonians differed from other organizations in the temperance movement in that they focused on the individual alcoholic rather than on society's greater relationship with liquor.

Public temperance meetings were frequent and the main thread was prohibition of alcohol and pledges of sobriety to be made by the individual.

[3] However, in the space of just a few years, this society almost disappeared because they became fragmented in their primary purpose, becoming involved with all manner of controversial social reforms including prohibition, sectarian religion, politics and abolition of slavery.

[3] As the Washingtonians drifted away from their initial purpose in helping the individual alcoholic; disagreements, infighting, and controversies over Prohibition in the United States eventually destroyed the group.

Although comparisons are made between the Washingtonians and Alcoholics Anonymous, they also have much in common with modern secular drug addiction recovery groups.