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The Dashaway Association — California's mid 19th century AA
Author(s) -
Powell K.C.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
australian drug and alcohol review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.018
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1465-3362
pISSN - 0819-5331
DOI - 10.1080/09595238880000771
Subject(s) - pledge , attendance , dash , history , movement (music) , falling (accident) , sign (mathematics) , political science , genealogy , law , demography , psychology , sociology , art , psychiatry , mathematical analysis , mathematics , computer science , operating system , aesthetics
Abstract: In 1840 in Baltimore (USA) six heavy drinkers decided to stop drinking, sign a pledge and support each other in their resolve to abstain. They formed the Washington Temperance Society. The movement grew rapidly, and under the new name of the Washingtonian Movement, boasted of an attendance of 1000 at its first anniversary. By the 1850s, it reached the west coast. For various reasons momentum waned. In California a group of members left the movement and formed what they called “The Dashaway Association”. The title reflected their resolve to dash the cup away from their lips. Unlike temperance groups it was peculiar to the drinker, the ex‐drunkard. A weekly programme of activities was arranged. Its members rounded up the heavy drinkers from the streets. In San Francisco a small in‐patient centre arose. The Dashaways ran a short course of 15 years, falling victim to bad economic times and a rising, powerful temperance movement.