Alcohol was a vital part of daily life in America in the 17th century.
Drinking was widely accepted, though drunkenness was not tolerated.
Then when the industrial revolution began in the 1700s, companies needed labourers to operate heavy machinery.
That is when the attitude towards drinking began to change.
By the 1790s, results from research on the dangers of alcohol began to surface, and medical authorities started promoting abstinenceTotal refraining from alcohol..
Gradually, several movements across America and Europe began that highlighted alcohol’s association with diseases, violence and road accidents.
These movements were led by Temperance Societies (Temperance = moderation).
The Teetotalism movement began in 1820-1830, and it took Temperance to the next level.
Starting in England, it promoted total abstinence from alcohol instead of just moderation.
And to lay emphasis on “total”, they would say “Total with a Capital T”.
Then, a reinterpretation to mean temperance total came in.
This led to T-total, and eventually, the words teetotalism and teetotaller emerged.
