For much of American history, women were second-class citizens in the sense they could not vote or run for office and had few property rights. However, women were often able to overcome social restrictions and forcefully affect the world around them, sometimes nationally. This took a real force of character, determination, and sometimes bravery.

Women were discouraged from becoming involved in politics, and the majority of American men thought women belonged in the home. As the 1800s progressed, American women became more and more significant in changing their country for the better. This meant that women gravitated toward causes society thought were appropriate for women, which were those merging family issues and Christianity, both of which allowed women to organize and form local and national organizations. Women active in these causes were not subject to censure.

The most important cause allowing women to overcome Victorian expectations of being ladylike was temperance, which eventually resulted in the Prohibition era. Prohibition had several elements, but it was focused on pushing for making the manufacture, sale, and possession of alcohol illegal and convincing individuals to swear off alcohol.

Alcoholism was a huge social problem in the United States in the 1800s. American consumption sometimes started just past infancy, with ale, beer, cider, and other drinks commonly consumed at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Drunkenness was a major problem for employers and a pervasive cause of domestic violence. Americans had consumed a large amount of alcohol per capita as far back as colonial times, but it seems to have worsened as the urban population grew and alcohol became readily available in saloons and bars. Popularly called temperance, prohibition was a perfect situation for women to become activists because it was framed as protecting the family and improving workers’ habits.

Prohibition got its name from its goal of prohibiting alcohol, and the most effective way to do this was through constitutional amendments to state constitutions, which brought women into politics. One state, Maine, passed strong legislation banning alcohol in 1851, although it was repealed in 1858. Women activists who focused on temperance quickly shifted to other issues, including women’s property rights, dealing with improvident or violent husbands, and on to advocating for women’s suffrage.

The roots of the prohibition movement went back to the early 1800s, but it became nationally important in the 1840s. Women in the prohibition movement became more and more active, and gradually and reluctantly, more and more accepted. Many women went on from participating in the temperance movement to become active in other causes, including activism against cruelty to animals, concern for child labor, and particularly to participating in the Union movement that became increasingly important following the Civil War.

This is the story of five such women.