View of the Grand Mass Washington Convention on Boston Common, on the 30th of May, 1844.

This c. 1844 lithograph by Thayer & Co. Lithographers, Boston, depicts the May 28, 1844, Washingtonian Movement Rally, the largest temperance rally in the United States at that time. The event attracted 30,000 people from various temperance organizations who gathered to hear speeches from Governor George N. Briggs, John B. Gough, and William I. Mitchell. The illustration shows thousands of Washingtonians assembled on Boston Common, with the State Capitol, Park Street, and Park Street Church in the background. In the foreground, soldiers in dress uniforms and dignitaries in a carriage pulled by white horses are prominently featured, along with many Washingtonians holding banners.

The Washingtonian Movement was a 19th-century American temperance society founded on April 2, 1840, by six alcoholics in Baltimore, Maryland, with the goal of complete abstinence from alcohol. They believed in mutual support and sharing their experiences to maintain sobriety. The society quickly grew, with tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands, of members at its peak.