I am sure your last point has some merit. Temperance proponents made quite a push during the War Between the States and never backed off. People like Elizabeth Cady Stanton were disappointed when the Republicans dropped women’s issues, include temperance, from their agenda after the War. They thought the War represented a seismic shift in reform policy and should embrace not only abolition, but all reform movements. Many agreed, including people like Horace Greeley, but the political realities put some of those issues on the shelf until later.
