Carrie Nation

Carrie Nation was an American temperance activist who gained national attention for destroying saloons with a hatchet during the campaign for alcohol prohibition.

Temperance movement: A social movement seeking to reduce or prohibit alcohol consumption. It supplied the organized cause Nation pursued through direct action.
Saloon smashing: The destruction of saloon property by temperance activists seeking to enforce or advance alcohol prohibition. This direct-action tactic became Nation’s signature form of protest.
David Nation: A Kansas minister and Carrie Nation’s second husband. Their shared religious life and separation shaped the story Nation told about her mission.
Eighteenth Amendment: The 1919 amendment to the United States Constitution that prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors. It enacted nationwide prohibition years after Nation’s most publicized raids.
Hatchet: A small axe with a short handle, designed for one-handed use. Nation’s hatchet became the most recognizable emblem of her activism.
Kansas Prohibition: The legal prohibition of alcohol in Kansas, established by the state constitution in 1881. The law existed before Nation’s saloon raids, but enforcement remained weak.
Kansas statutes: State laws governing conduct and enforcement in Kansas. Nation argued that raids pressured officials to enforce the state’s prohibition law.
Frances Willard: An American educator and reformer who led the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union from 1879 to 1898. Willard represented the WCTU’s broader, largely nonviolent temperance leadership.
Volstead Act: The 1919 federal law defining and enforcing prohibited intoxicating liquors under the Eighteenth Amendment. It translated constitutional prohibition into federal enforcement rules.
Temperance literature: Writing that argues for abstinence from alcohol or supports temperance reform. Nation used speeches and publications to extend her campaign beyond saloon raids.

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Henry FlaglerRelated: Nation’s 1905 attack on a Flagler-owned hotel bar brought his resort interests into conflict with prohibition activism.