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Article: "To Educate, Agitate, and Legislate": Baptists, Methodists, and the Anti-Saloon League of Virginia, 1901-1910
- Article from:
- The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
- Article date:
- January 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Virginia Historical Society 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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On 4 June 1907, temperance forces in Charlottesville celebrated their forty-vote local option prohibition victory. The mood was festive, and a spirit of denominational unity permeated the gathering. As the Charlottesville Daily Progress noted,
Tremendous applause was followed by handshaking, while tears of joy were freely shed by stalwart men, and many ladies came very nearly shouting. Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterians, Disciples, Episcopalians - all were as one holding a great love feast.1
The "great love feast" scene was repeated throughout Virginia many times during the Anti-Saloon League's local option campaign. In such towns as Charlottesville, Danville, and Pocahontas, which at one ...