Polyglot Petition


The Polyglot Petition for Home Protection was the first world-wide proclamation against the manufacturing and international trade in liquor and drugs as well as the prohibition of legalised vice. It served as a first major campaign to raise public awareness of the need for international agreements on controls for opium and its derivatives.

Description of the petition

Addressed to all rulers and nations of the world, this petition to adopt prohibition was written by the American Woman's Christian Temperance Union president Frances Willard in 1884. It was carried across the world by at least four World WCTU missionaries who gathered signatures of nearly eight million people in more than fifty countries. The signatures can be categorized in three basic sections: signatures of individual women, written endorsements of men, and attestations of leaders of groups that had endorsed the petition.
The proclamation was first launched at the International Temperance Congress in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1885.
The signed petitions from the U.S. were sent to Mrs. Rebecca C. Shuman in Evanston, Illinois who trimmed and mounted them on white muslin, one-half yard in width and bound with red ribbon on one side and blue ribbon on the other. The first convention of the World's WCTU was held in Boston in 1891 where the petitions served as wall-coverings at the Faneuil Hall. Signed petitions from Great Britain came in already mounted on cloth in time for presentation to the U.S. president, Grover Cleveland, in February 1895. The Polyglot Petition is archived in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union Administration Building in Evanston, Illinois, United States of America.

Purpose

The International Women's Temperance Union was formed in 1876. And by 1883 the World WCTU became the organizing unit for communicating with the WCTU chapters around the world. The Polyglot Petition served as an important vehicle for action across the networks being formed. In 1891 Frances Willard was elected president of the World WCTU. "There is a heart-language that they are learning in every nation, and nothing can stand before the sisterhood of woman that is now growing up around the world."
WWCTU leadership hoped that the simple act of signing the petition would accomplish several things at once: it would spur membership and support for the WWCTU; capture media attention for the cause; and, by using the signatures of women leaders in their own countries, influence world leaders to make change.

Opening paragraphs

To the Governments of the World.
'''Honored Rulers, Representatives, and Brothers:'''

Response to Call by World WCTU Missionaries

The fully signed Polyglot Petition represents the appeal for prohibitionism by representatives in the following countries and geographic areas :
  • United States – Forty-four States, five Territories and Alaska
  • Canada – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia
  • Newfoundland
  • Mexico
  • Jamaica
  • Bahamas
  • Madeira
  • South America – Brazil, Chile, Uruguay
  • Europe – England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Russia, Finland, Turkey, Bulgaria
  • Asia – China, Japan, India, Burmah, Siam, Corea, Ceylon
  • Africa – Egypt, Congo Free State, Transvaal, West and South Africa, Angola
  • Madagascar
  • Mozambique
  • Australia – Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales
  • Tasmania
  • New Zealand
  • Micronesia
  • Hawaiian Islands
The text of the petition itself was first presented at the International Temperance Congress in Belgium in September 1885. The signed petitions were presented to many sovereign leaders, including to the U.S. President Grover Cleveland in February 1885 and to Great Britain's Queen Victoria in June 1895. The public display of the many rolls of the signed petition came at the first World WCTU convention in Boston in 1891. At the second World WCTU convention in Chicago in 1893, all the signatures gathered thus far were displayed, but thereafter – due to the expense of packaging up all the rolls – only sections were sent out to be displayed at the World's WCTU conventions.

Results

In the early 20th century, several countries legislated prohibition or restrictions of the manufacturing and business of alcohol. See list of
and list of countries with alcohol prohibition. The nations most impacted by prohibition enactments were the Nordic countries, the United States, Canada, and the Russian Empire/USSR. Many nations continue to levy a so-called “sin” tax on alcohol and certain legalized narcotics such as tobacco products, as well as protecting children from having access.
Trafficking in prohibited drugs intertwined with imperial control over the opium trade. But, the first international drug control treaty was finalized at the First International Opium Convention at The Hague in 1912 and went into force globally in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles.
The first international agreement to fight against the trafficking of women and children came in 1904 with the International Agreement for the suppression of the White Slave Traffic and oversight supported under the League of Nations. This work was expanded under the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking after a national convention in 1949.