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Sylvester Graham

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The Reverend
Sylvester Graham
Wood engraving of Graham, 1880
Born(1794-07-05)July 5, 1794
Suffield, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedSeptember 11, 1851(1851-09-11) (aged 57)
Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationAmherst Academy
Occupation(s)Presbyterian minister, dietary reformer
Spouse
Sarah Manchester Earl
​
​
(m. 1824)​
Children3
Signature

Sylvester Graham (July 5, 1794 – September 11, 1851) was an American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer. He was known for his emphasis on vegetarianism, the temperance movement, and eating whole-grain bread. His preaching inspired the graham flour, graham bread, and graham cracker products.[1]: 29 [2] Graham is often referred to as the "Father of Vegetarianism" in the United States of America.[1]: 15 [3]

Early life

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Graham was born July 5, 1794 in Suffield, Connecticut, into a family of 17 children.[4] His father, who was 72 years old at the time of Graham's birth, died when Graham was two years old. His mother was reported to have had mental health issues. During his childhood, Graham lived with various relatives. At one point, he was placed with a relative who operated a tavern, where he worked. Witnessing alcohol abuse during this time reportedly influenced his lifelong opposition to drinking, which was uncommon among his peers.[1]: 15 

Graham was frequently in poor health and missed much of his formal education.[1]: 15  Before pursuing the ministry, he worked in various occupations, including as a farmhand, cleaner, and teacher. He enrolled at Amherst Academy in his late twenties with the intention of becoming a minister, following the example of his father and grandfather. He withdrew after a year, reportedly due to unfavorable reactions from fellow students to his dramatic speaking style.[1]: 16 

Following his departure from school, Graham experienced a period of social isolation and reportedly suffered a nervous breakdown. He relocated to Little Compton, Rhode Island, to recover.[5]: 30  While there, he was cared for by a local woman, Sarah Manchester Earl. The two developed a relationship and were married on September 19, 1824. They had three children together: Sarah, Henry, and Caroline.[4]

Graham continued his theological studies independently and, in 1828, began working as an itinerant preacher at the Bound Brook Presbyterian Church in Bound Brook, New Jersey.[5]: 30 

Career

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In 1830, Graham accepted a position at the Philadelphia Temperance Society. He left six months later to focus on preaching health.[5]: 30 

Graham's appointment and conversion to vegetarianism came as the 1826–1837 cholera pandemic was breaking in Europe, and Americans were terrified that it would reach the United States.[5]: 29–30  Accepted medical opinion was that the best way to prevent contracting cholera was to eat plenty of meat, drink port wine, and avoid vegetables.[1]: 18 [5]: 30  Cholera was widely believed at the time to be a plague or a form of divine punishment.[1]: 19 

Unlike most temperance societies of the period, which were typically led by clergy, the Philadelphia Temperance Society was headed by physicians who focused on the health effects of alcohol consumption.[5]: 30  While involved with the group, Graham may have encountered two other prominent figures in early American vegetarianism: William Metcalfe, an English minister who founded a vegetarian church in Philadelphia, and William A. Alcott, a Philadelphia physician who wrote extensively on vegetarianism and authored the first American vegetarian cookbook. Graham was largely self-taught in physiology and developed the belief that meat, like alcohol, encouraged gluttony. He argued that both substances degraded the body and soul, with negative consequences for individuals, families, and society.[5]: 31 

Graham's views were influenced by Treatise on Physiology by François-Joseph-Victor Broussais, published in Philadelphia in 1826, which argued that diet had a significant impact on health.[5]: 31  He was also influenced by the works of German chemist Friedrich Accum, particularly Treatise on Adulteration of Foods and Culinary Poisons, which condemned the use of chemical additives in food—especially bread—and Treatise on the Art of Making Good and Wholesome Bread. At the time, wheat flour was often adulterated with substances such as alum, chalk, and plaster of Paris to increase volume, improve whiteness, or mask spoilage. Bread was typically made from finely ground white flour, which Graham criticized as "tortured", and leavened with brewer's yeast, also associated with beer production.[5]: 31–32 

Like many in the temperance movement, Graham regarded physical pleasures—particularly sexual stimulation—with suspicion, viewing them as sources of lust that could lead to personal and societal harm.[6] His thinking was shaped by the Bible and Christian theology, though interpreted in a distinctive manner. He believed that humans were intended to follow a plant diet, as exemplified by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and that disease and plague were consequences of violating natural law.[1]: 21–22, 27  Graham advocated for emotional restraint and argued that individuals should avoid anxiety and lust in order to maintain health, making him an early proponent of the idea that stress could contribute to illness.[1]: 19 

Building on these beliefs, Graham developed a dietary and lifestyle regimen intended to promote purity and health at the individual, familial, and societal levels. This included drinking pure water, following a vegetarian diet centered on bread made at home from coarsely ground flour, and avoiding spices and other "stimulants". He also advocated for strict lifestyle practices such as sleeping on hard beds and avoiding warm baths.[5]: 31–33  His approach has been described as an early form of preventive medicine.[1]: 20  Graham's emphasis on home milling and baking reflected his broader vision of domestic life in America, in which women played a central role in sustaining the health of their families, as his wife had done for him.[2]

Graham believed that following his prescribed diet would help prevent impure thoughts and, by extension, reduce masturbation, which he considered a cause of blindness and premature death.[7]: 16  His 1834 publication On Self-Pollution contributed to the widespread anxiety about masturbation in antebellum America. He argued that masturbation was particularly harmful to children, given the perceived immaturity of their reproductive organs.[7]: 15, 72 

As a skilled and impassioned speaker, Graham drew public attention with a message that blended patriotism, theology, diet, lifestyle reform, and elements of the temperance movement.[1]: 19, 21  His views provoked strong reactions, attracting a following among concerned members of the public while angering bakers, butchers, and members of the medical establishment.[2][6] During the 1832 cholera epidemic in New York, individuals who followed Graham’s regimen were reported to fare better, contributing to a surge in his popularity.[5]: 29 

In 1837, he published Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making, which included a history of bread and instructions for preparing what became known as Graham bread. The book was reprinted in 2012 by Andrews McMeel Publishing as part of the American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection. That same year, his lectures in New York and Boston drew large crowds; the Boston event was disrupted by threats of riots from local butchers and commercial bakers.[5]: 33 

Grahamism

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As Graham's influence grew, "Grahamism" developed into a broader movement. Followers and entrepreneurs began producing and marketing items such as Graham flour, Graham bread, and graham crackers, inspired by his teachings.[1]: 29 [2] His ideas influenced several prominent Americans, including journalist Horace Greeley and John Harvey Kellogg, the founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

As his fame spread, "Grahamism" became a movement, and people inspired by his preaching began to develop and market Graham flour, Graham bread, and graham crackers. He neither invented nor endorsed any specific product, nor did he receive any money from their sale.[1]: 21, 29 [2] Graham influenced other Americans, including Horace Greeley, Bronson Alcott, and John Harvey Kellogg.[8]

Grahamite boarding houses were established in the 1830s to promote and practice the lifestyle principles advocated by Graham.[9] Residents adhered to a regimen that emphasized dietetic and hygienic reform, including cold baths, sleeping on hard mattresses, maintaining ventilation with open windows, a vegetarian diet featuring Graham bread, and drinking cold water.[10][11] While the consumption of animal flesh was prohibited, eggs were permitted at breakfast and constituted an important part of the Grahamite diet.[10]

American Physiological Society

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In 1837, Colonel John Benson, Graham, and William Alcott founded the American Physiological Society (APS) in Boston to promote Grahamism.[12][13][14] Alcott was first President of the Society.[15] After a year, the Society was reported to have had 251 members, including 93 women. It lasted just three years.[12]

Laura J. Miller commented that the Society was "the most visible association promoting natural foods principles until the American Vegetarian Society was founded in 1850".[16] Many of the APS members suffered from chronic disease and became vegetarian. It has been described as "likely the first exclusively vegetarian organization in the United States".[13] It was also the first American natural hygiene organization.[13] A notable member of the APS was Mary Gove Nichols, who gave health lectures to women.[13]

In 1837, Graham and David Cambell founded The Graham Journal of Health and Longevity.[17] It was "designed to illustrate by facts, and sustain by reason and principles the science of human life as taught by Sylvester Graham".[18] It was edited by Campbell, Secretary of the APR[clarification needed] (1837–1839), and five volumes were published.[15][19] In 1840, the journal merged with the Library of Health, edited by Alcott.[20][21]

American Vegetarian Society

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In 1850, Alcott, William Metcalfe, Russell Trall, and Graham founded the American Vegetarian Society in New York City,[22] modeled on a similar organization established in Great Britain in 1847.[23]

Death

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Graham died of complications after receiving opium enemas, as directed by his doctor, at the age of 57 at home in Northampton, Massachusetts. His early death was the source of criticism and speculation.[24] Historian Stephen Nissenbaum has written that Graham died "after violating his own strictures by taking liquor and meat in a last desperate attempt to recover his health".[25]

Russell Trall, who had visited Graham, noted that he had strayed from a strict vegetarian diet and was prescribed meat by his doctor to increase his blood circulation.[24] Trall wrote that before his death Graham regretted this decision and "fully and verily believed in the theory of vegetable diet as explained in his works".[24]

After his death, vegetarians distanced themselves from Grahamism.[24] However, his vegetarian message was disseminated far into the 20th century.[26]

Food historians cite Graham as one of the earliest food faddists in America.[26][27][28]

Selected works

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Of his numerous publications, the best known are:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Iacobbo, Karen; Iacobbo, Michael (2004). Vegetarian America: A History. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishing. ISBN 978-0-275-97519-7.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Tompkins, K. W. (2009). "Sylvester Graham's Imperial Dietetics". Gastronomica. 9 (1): 50–60. doi:10.1525/gfc.2009.9.1.50. JSTOR 10.1525/gfc.2009.9.1.50.
  3. ^ Misiroglu, Gina (2008). American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History. Routledge. p. 737. ISBN 978-0-7656-8060-0.
  4. ^ a b "Rev. Dr. Sylvester Graham - Biography". National Health Association. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Smith, Andrew F. (2009). Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-14092-8.
  6. ^ a b Shryock, Richard H. (January 1, 1931). "Sylvester Graham and the Popular Health Movement, 1830–1870". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 18 (2): 172–183. doi:10.2307/1893378. JSTOR 1893378.
  7. ^ a b Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz (2006). Attitudes Toward Sex in Antebellum America: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. ISBN 978-0-312-41226-5.
  8. ^ Landrigan, Leslie (April 25, 2014). "Sylvester Graham, Health Food Nut, Makes Butchers and Bakers Go Crackers". New England Historical Society. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  9. ^ Shprintzen, Adam D. (October 7, 2013). The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921. UNC Press Books. pp. 27–30. ISBN 978-1-4696-0891-4.
  10. ^ a b Shprintzen, Adam D. (2013). The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817–1921. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 27–30. ISBN 978-1-4696-0891-4
  11. ^ Gratzer, Walter (2005). Terrors of the Table: The Curious History of Nutrition. OUP Oxford. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-19-157862-5.
  12. ^ a b "An American 'Physiological' Society of 1837". The British Medical Journal. 2 (4057): 757. January 1, 1938. JSTOR 20300989.
  13. ^ a b c d Iacobbo, Karen; Iacobbo, Michael. (2004). Vegetarian America: A History. Praeger Publishing. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0275975197
  14. ^ Unrelated to the American Physiological Society of 1887, see J. W. Lazar, "American neurophysiology and two nineteenth-century American Physiological Societies", Journal of the History of Neuroscience 26:2:154-168 Archived May 14, 2019, at the Wayback Machine (2017).
  15. ^ a b Tompkins, Kyla Wazana. (2012). Racial Indigestion: Eating Bodies in the 19th Century. New York University Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-8147-7002-3
  16. ^ Miller, Laura J. (2017). Building Nature's Market: The Business and Politics of Natural Foods. University of Chicago Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-226-50123-9
  17. ^ Cayleff, Susan E. (2016). Nature's Path: A History of Naturopathic Healing in America. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-4214-1903-9
  18. ^ Fletcher, Robert Samuel. (1971). A History of Oberlin College: From its Foundation Through the Civil War Volume 1. Arno Press. p. 319
  19. ^ Wolfe, Richard J. (2001). Tarnished Idol: William Thomas Green Morton and the Introduction of Surgical Anesthesia: A Chronicle of the Ether Controversy. Norman Publishing. p. 514. ISBN 0-930405-81-1 Note: David Cambell has also been referred to as David Campbell.
  20. ^ Alcott, William. (1839). The New Arrangement. The Graham Journal of Health and Longevity 3 (#22): 355. "We barely gave notice in our last that the Graham Journal and Library of Health were to be united in one, after the first of January, 1840."
  21. ^ Shprintzen, Adam D. (2013). The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817–1921. University of North Carolina Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-4696-0891-4
  22. ^ "American Vegetarian Society". International Vegetarian Union. Archived from the original on May 20, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  23. ^ Avey, Tori (January 28, 2014). "From Pythagorean to Pescatarian – The Evolution of Vegetarianism". PBS Food: The History Kitchen. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  24. ^ a b c d Shprintzen, Adam D. (2013). The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817–1921. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 73–76. ISBN 978-1-4696-0891-4
  25. ^ Nissenbaum, Stephen. (1980). Sex, Diet, and Debility in Jacksonian America: Sylvester Graham and Health Reform. Greenwood Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0313214158
  26. ^ a b Gratzer, Walter. (2005). Terrors of the Table: The Curious History of Nutrition. Oxford University Press. pp. 192–197. ISBN 0-19-280661-0
  27. ^ Ashraf, Hea-Ran L. Diets, Fad. In Andrew F. Smith The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-19-530796-2
  28. ^ Barrett, Stephen; Herbert, Victor. (1994). The Vitamin Pushers: How the "Health Food" Industry Is Selling Americans a Bill of Goods. pp. 321–322. ISBN 0-87975-909-7

Further reading

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Wikiquote has quotations related to Sylvester Graham.
Wikisource has the text of an 1879 American Cyclopædia article about Sylvester Graham.
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