The Causes And Effects Of Alcohol And The Prohibition Movement

The authors intent on the Temperance Movement was to show how people were trying to stop the Temperance Movement. The people involved in the stopping of alcohol sales were know where close to stopping it. The prohibition on alcohol was far from being possible on stopping alcohol consumption in the United States. “In the great arc of American history, it is tempting to view the anti-alcohol forces as a historical anomaly, a minor obstacle that interrupted the march from

With industrialization, big businesses thrived off of the underclass and left a trail of social consequences for their actions. “Poverty, crime, slavery, prostitution, and alcoholism were seen as blights on the face of a young nation, and the middle classes were keen to define a morality and sense of society that they felt could be described as American.” The emerging industrialist and financial aristocracy lived in palatial homes while the rest fought and worked hard to survive everyday. Epidemics of destructive drinking has historically been analyzed to occur when one wants to relieve stress. Families were destroyed as men would rather stay in saloons than go home. Supporters of Prohibition believed alcohol was a nations curse and banning it would lessen crime, strengthen families, and generally improve national character. “Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.” The 18th amendment did not ban the consumption of alcohol rather the manufacture and distribution. People bought more bootlegged alcohol, illegal liquor, which was lesser quality and potentially dangerous. “One thousand Americans died every year during the

In 1849, the Daughters of Temperance, created by Susan B. Anthony, was formed. These few enterprising women referred to alcohol as “The Unclean Thing” and began one of the many quests for Prohibition. They strove to shut down saloons or at least regulate their hours, closing on Sundays, the day of rest, in order to protect their families and their finances from the horrors of men under the influence.6 However, this proved to be a difficult endeavor because by 1875, one third of the total federal revenue was a result of the manufacturing, purchasing, and distribution of alcohol.7 The multiple Prohibition groups that had sprung up by this time did indeed recognize that their goal of “destroying the demand of the consumer” of alcohol related items would jeopardize over one thousand million dollars worth of income, without compensating those who would become indebted by their proposition. Supporters of the temperance movement then realized that their efforts must be extended beyond the realm of the church in order for them to achieve their arduous goal on a national level.8

Although the temperance movement was concerned with the habitual drunk, its primary goal was total abstinence and the elimination of liquor. With the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, the well-organized and powerful political organizations, utilizing no holds barred political tactics, successfully accomplished their goal. Prohibition became the law of the land on January 16, 1920; the manufacturing, importation, and sale of alcohol was no longer legal in the United States. Through prohibition, America embarked on what became labeled “the Nobel Experiment.” However, instead of having social redeeming values as ordained, prohibition had the opposite effect of its intended purpose, becoming a catastrophic failure.

Protestants, urban political progressives, those of old-world religion, and the women’s temperance unions all agreed upon one thing: the outlaw of alcohol consumption in the United States. For many years, these groups all rallied to have this outlaw take place, this outlaw would later be known as Prohibition. In 1913, crusaders gathered in Washington, they marched and demanded change. In “The War on Alcohol” Lisa McGirr states, “Antiliquor crusaders worked to educate the public about the dangers of alcohol through posters, pamphlets, graphs and charts” (19).  Progressives blamed alcohol for many other “dirty” problems such as domestic violence, gambling and prostitution. What was commonly referred to as the Volstead Act (National Prohibition Act) was sent to the states by Congress on December 18,1917, it was passed on October 28,1919, and ratified on January 16, 1919 and the country went dry one year later when the eighteenth amendment went into effect on January 20,1919. Prohibition was a ban on producing, importing, transporting and selling alcohol beverages. While the goal of the ban was to reduce alcohol consumption and clean up the country, what it really did was cause organized crime to skyrocket, detrimentally affect local and national economies and ultimately cause people to drink a more potent alcohol that was far worse for them.

Prohibition was introduced to all American states apart from Maryland in 1920. Prohibition was the banning of alcohol; you could be arrested for sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol. There were many factors that influenced the introduction of prohibition. One of the main factors was the temperance movement’s two examples of this

In “Scaring a Nation Dry: Propaganda in Prohibition,” Kimberly Hickey provides a detailed essay about the distribution of misleading information about alcohol in the United States during in the twentieth century. Hickey affirms that prohibition groups emerged decades prior to the law’s enactment. (2) Hickey states, “The enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment marked the beginning of the era of “the noble experiment.” The experiment, as President Herbert Hoover referred to it, was an attempt to limit the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol in the United States.” (4) By referring to the law as the “noble experiment” implies that this law set a standard as to how citizens should act. Therefore, making ethical claims that intoxication

With America’s strong dependence of alcohol prior to, and even after, the enactment of the 18th amendment, one may wonder how a country drowning in liquor could possibly support the banning of alcohol, or Prohibition. In the years leading up to January 16th, 1919, support for Prohibition went from a handful of advocates, including devout protestant women praying in front of saloons, to quite possibly a majority (While one cannot be entirely certain, support for Prohibition was at least relatively equal to its lack of support.) of citizens demanding Prohibition. Many significant events lead to this growing support, yet eight of these events which are outlined in Daniel Okrent’s Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition were especially significant.

Prohibition was favored by the Anti-Saloon League established by Howard Hyde Russel whom practiced law and ministry. Equally important, this group appealed to local churches to favor their movement. This gave the group loyal followers giving them the chance to focus on politicians to support the movement as well. In addition, women favored the movement as well, due to them believing alcohol blocked the unity of family. Women could not conform to the behavior or drunkenness of their husbands and saw alcohol only brought about conflict. As time passed even many factory

By the 1820s, the average American was drinking the equivalent of seventy gallons of beer a year, due to both a lack of safe drinking water and of few other options.(Meredith) Even though it originated out of necessity, this excessive drinking outraged and shocked a portion of the U.S. population. This began the Temperance movement, where many campaigned to minimize alcohol consumption. Doctors objected to drinking alcohol on medical grounds, because excessive drinking lead to cirrhosis of the liver.(Meredith) Ministers claimed that it damaged moral behavior. Many mothers and wives were outraged with their husbands and sons for going to saloons or bars and drinking the family money away.(Burns and Novick) These groups believed temperance, and eventually, prohibition, would fix these problems. The Temperance movement gained traction in the United States and whipped the nation into a fervor. This lead to the passing of the 18th Amendment, beginning what we know as

     The prohibitionists had several motives for letting loose their concern of alcohol. The main issue discussed, using the example of the average middle-class citizen, was the aspect of growing children and the effect of alcohol on the family. Facts show that children with parents that have major drinking problems are more “defective” than children with parents that

     Prohibition had become an issue long before its eventual induction as the 18th amendment in 1920. Organizations came about for the sole purpose of an alcohol free America. In 1833, an estimated one million Americans belonged to some type of temperance association (Behr 12). Many believed the absence of alcohol would help the poor as well as big business. Lower class people would put more money into savings accounts and productivity would increase among workers (Hanson 27). More importantly the “noble experiment”—was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, and improve the health and hygiene in America” (Thorton 1).

Many people seem to think that prohibition was centered only in large cities such as Chicago. But Clark demonstrates that it wasn’t the case. Many states were implementing laws to abolish saloons and even becoming dry states before the 18th amendment was passed. Clark writes of how in Pomona CA, out of hundreds of saloons that existed only two survived. But even then they weren’t allowed to have seats to discourage clients from loitering to long. As well as only being able to sell liquor during certain hours. The fact that a local city was used as an example in the book made me realize that there was such wide support for this cause.

“Prohibition did not achieve its goals. Instead, it added to the problems it was intended to solve.” On 16th January 1920, one of the most common personal habits and customs of American society came to a halt. The eighteenth amendment was implemented, making all importing, exporting, transporting, selling and manufacturing of intoxicating liquors absolutely prohibited. This law was created in the hope of achieving the reduction of alcohol consumption, which in turn would reduce: crime, poverty,

The 18th amendment introduced governmental restrictions on the manufacture and sale of alcohol in 1920’s America (Constitution). With this amendment, government overstepped the boundaries set in place by the founders and by the ideologies of Locke; rather than a government whose sole purpose was to protect the rights of people, government became an institution that could also regulate morals. Though created with good intentions, Prohibition rather had an adverse effect and led to both economic and moral disaster. Due to governmental expansion and growth into spheres not intended in its original design, government harmed America socially and economically, and expanded the facets into which government could have power.