The Women’s Christian Temperance Union forms to combat the “the destructive power of alcohol” after local women’s groups in New York and Ohio stage protests in neighborhood saloons. A national organizing meeting is held in New York and, in the fall of 1874, the first national convention of the WCTU is held in Cleveland, Ohio. Although considerably smaller, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union still advocates today for abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, gambling and illegal drugs.