The Story Behind Prohibition's Legal Past

The Prohibition Era in the United States, which lasted from 1920 to 1933, was the result of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors. The movement to prohibit alcohol, known as the temperance movement, began in the 1820s and 1830s, driven by a wave of religious revivalism and the belief that alcohol was a destructive force in families and marriages. The first temperance society, the American Temperance Society, was formed in 1826, and in 1873, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded, giving the movement its most forceful voice. The WCTU spent years building support for prohibition through education and local and state laws, and in 1881, Kansas included a ban on alcohol in its state constitution.

The push for nationwide prohibition gained momentum in the early 20th century, with the Anti-Saloon League, founded in 1893, leading the charge. The movement was also supported by women's suffragists, who were concerned about the effects of alcohol on families, and industrialists, who wanted to increase worker efficiency. In 1917, after the United States entered World War I, President Woodrow Wilson instituted a temporary prohibition on alcohol production to conserve grain for food production.

On December 18, 1917, the Eighteenth Amendment, which banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors, was proposed in the Senate. It was ratified by three-quarters of the states on January 16, 1919, and went into effect one year later on January 17, 1920. The National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act, was passed in October 1919 and provided the guidelines for enforcing the ban and defining prohibited alcoholic beverages.

The Eighteenth Amendment

The origins of the movement can be traced back to the 1820s and 1830s, when a wave of religious revivalism swept the nation, leading to increased calls for temperance. The first temperance society, the American Temperance Society (ATS), was formed in 1826, and by 1835 it boasted 1.5 million members. The movement gained further momentum in the latter half of the 19th century, driven by the proliferation of saloons after the Civil War, and the work of organisations such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded in 1873.

The WCTU, whose membership was predominantly female, originally proposed banning alcohol as a method of preventing abuse by alcoholic husbands. WCTU members believed that educating children about the dangers of alcohol could create a "dry sentiment" leading to prohibition. The Anti-Saloon League, established in 1893, also played a key role in the push for prohibition, and by the early 20th century, temperance societies were a common fixture in communities across the country.

The campaign for a nationwide prohibition gained further support from industrialists, who wanted to increase the efficiency of their workers, and from nativist prohibitionists, who associated the crime and moral corruption of American cities with immigrant populations and their drinking culture. In addition, World War I brought a temporary prohibition on alcohol production, as well as heightened anti-German sentiment, which dealt a blow to the anti-prohibition forces since many brewers were German.

On December 18, 1917, a constitutional amendment to prohibit alcohol was proposed in the Senate, and in October 1919, Congress passed the National Prohibition Act, commonly known as the Volstead Act, which set out the rules for enforcing the ban and defined prohibited alcoholic beverages. The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, with the support of three-quarters of US states, and one year later, on January 17, 1920, the country went dry.

Despite the new legislation, prohibition was difficult to enforce, and the illegal production and sale of liquor ("bootlegging"), the proliferation of speakeasies, and the accompanying rise in gang violence and organised crime led to waning support for prohibition by the end of the 1920s. In 1933, Congress adopted a resolution proposing a Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution that would repeal the Eighteenth Amendment, and on December 5, 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified, bringing an end to the Prohibition Era.

The temperance movement

The movement was driven by a range of forces, including religious groups, women suffragists, and industrialists. Religious groups, particularly Protestant evangelical congregations, were central to the movement, with the Anti-Saloon League receiving much of its support from these congregations. Women played a strong role in the movement, as alcohol was seen as a destructive force in families and marriages. Industrialists supported prohibition in the hope of preventing accidents and increasing the efficiency of their workers in an era of extended working hours and increased industrial production.

The movement was also taken up by progressives in the Prohibition, Democratic, and Republican parties, and gained a national grassroots base through the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. After 1900, it was coordinated by the Anti-Saloon League. The movement was opposed by "wet" supporters from wealthy Catholic and German Lutheran communities, as well as the beer industry. However, the influence of these groups waned from 1917 following the United States' entry into World War I against Germany.

The role of religion

The temperance movement, which advocated for abstinence from alcohol, was started by Christian men and women in the 1800s. The average American drank the equivalent of 88 bottles of whiskey a year, and alcohol abuse was blamed for rampant domestic violence and poverty. The first temperance organisations were founded by Presbyterian ministers in 1826, and within a decade, there were over 8,000 local groups with a total membership of more than 1.5 million.

The Anti-Saloon League, formed in 1893, used local churches to spread its anti-alcohol message and change local laws. The League was able to help elect many "dry" politicians, and by 1913, its influence had grown to the point where it was able to lead a national prohibition movement. The League was instrumental in getting the Eighteenth Amendment passed in Congress in 1917, and ratified by the required number of states in 1919.

The religious establishment remained central to the movement, with Protestant evangelical congregations providing much of the support for the Anti-Saloon League's early 20th-century push for Prohibition. The religious crusaders behind Prohibition sought to eliminate alcohol from society, challenging the separation of church and state and manipulating the rural and urban political and cultural divide to achieve their goals.

The temperance movement and Prohibition were also linked to the women's movement. Women played a strong role in the temperance movement, as alcohol was seen as a destructive force in families and marriages. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded in 1874, advocated for the prohibition of alcohol as a method to prevent abuse from alcoholic husbands. WCTU members believed that educating children about the dangers of alcohol could create a dry sentiment leading to prohibition.

The role of women

Women played a significant role in the Temperance movement, which advocated for moderation in or complete abstinence from alcohol. The movement began in the 1820s and 1830s, bolstered by the religious revivalism sweeping the nation at the time. Women joined the movement, arguing that alcohol was morally corrupting and hurting families economically when men drank away their earnings. The Women's Crusade, also known as the Women's Praying Crusade, was a precursor to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and was organised in Ohio in 1874. It created an opportunity for women to promote national temperance and allowed them to enter the political sphere in unprecedented ways.

The WCTU, founded in 1874, was the largest women's organisation in the United States at the time. It was inspired by the serious drinking problem in the country and the disproportionate impact on women whose husbands were drunkards. Men were barred from voting and holding office within the movement, though they provided financial and emotional support. The women of the WCTU often felt that the movement was necessary due to their personal experiences dealing with drunk husbands and fathers, and because it was one of the few ways for women to enter politics in that era.

The temperance movement and the WCTU were linked to the women's movement. The WCTU was originally proposed as a method for preventing abuse from alcoholic husbands. The histories of the two movements were often intertwined, and many prominent women were involved in both. For example, Frances Willard, who became president of the WCTU in 1879, was also a founder of the Women's Temperance Union. She described how a man would "fritter away his earnings" and then go home and "inflict atrocities" on his family. Annie Wittenmyer, the first president of the WCTU, worked closely with Willard. They had opposing views on the WCTU's involvement in women's suffrage, so Wittenmyer became president of a new faction, the Non-Partisan Women's Christian Temperance Union.

Another prominent figure in the Temperance movement was Carry (or Carrie) Nation, who is famous for her extreme opposition to alcohol. She would pray or sing while destroying bars and saloons with a hatchet. She also published a newspaper, The Smasher's Mail, where people sent in their reactions to her destruction of saloons. However, no group claims her as a member, and she has been depicted as unnecessarily violent and domineering.

The WONPR was formed in 1929 to advocate for the repeal of the 18th Amendment. They argued that Prohibition was ineffective due to the prevalence of bootlegging and encouraged disrespect for the law and the Constitution. The WONPR was independent of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA), though the AAPA had female chapters called Molly Pitcher Clubs. The WONPR was led by Pauline Morton Sabin, who had previously been New York's first female representative to the Republican National Committee and founded the Women's National Republican Club. Sabin believed that Prohibition was ineffective and hypocritical, and that it was the responsibility of women to repeal it. She mobilised women to vote for Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 because he favoured repealing the 18th Amendment.

Another prominent woman in the Prohibition movement was Mabel Walker Willebrandt, the highest-ranking woman in the federal government during the 1920s and one of the first women appointed to a sub-Cabinet position. She oversaw Prohibition through three presidential administrations and was known as "Prohibition Portia" and "Mrs Firebrand". Willebrandt did not come from a temperance background and did not link Prohibition to feminism, but she acknowledged the key role that women had played in ridding society of vice. However, she also advocated for the building of the first federal prison for women as more were arrested as bootleggers and speakeasy hostesses.

The role of the government

The temperance movement, which advocated for moderation in or complete abstinence from alcohol consumption, gained momentum in the 1820s and 1830s, bolstered by a wave of religious revivalism that was sweeping the nation. The religious establishment, particularly Protestant evangelical congregations, remained central to the movement throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The first organized temperance societies emerged in the 1820s, with the American Temperance Society (ATS) being formed in 1826. By 1835, the ATS had reached 1.5 million members, with women constituting 35% to 60% of its chapters. The movement was further bolstered by the formation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1873, which became the most forceful voice of the temperance movement.

The WCTU spent many years building the movement through education and local and state laws. In 1881, Kansas became the first state to include a ban on alcohol in its state constitution, and other states followed suit. The WCTU's efforts were often linked to the women's movement, as alcohol was seen as a destructive force in families and marriages. WCTU members believed that educating children about the dangers of alcohol could create a dry sentiment leading to prohibition.

In addition to religious groups, other forces lent their support to the movement, including women's suffragists and industrialists. The former were anxious about the deteriorative effects of alcohol on the family unit, while the latter sought to increase the efficiency of their workers by preventing accidents and increasing productivity.

The Anti-Saloon League, established in 1893, led a new wave of attacks on the sale of liquor beginning in 1906. This campaign was driven by a reaction to urban growth, as well as the rise of evangelical Protestantism, which viewed saloon culture as corrupt and ungodly. The League became the most influential advocate of prohibition after 1900, coordinating the movement on the local, state, and federal levels.

The push for nationwide prohibition gained momentum, often led by women and Protestant congregations. In 1917, after the United States entered World War I, President Woodrow Wilson instituted a temporary wartime prohibition to conserve grain for food production. This temporary measure dealt a serious blow to the anti-Prohibition forces, as many brewers were German and opposed prohibition.

On December 18, 1917, the U.S. Senate proposed the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors. The House of Representatives passed a modified version of the resolution on December 17, and it was issued to the states for ratification on December 18. The amendment received the support of three-quarters of U.S. states in just 11 months and was ratified on January 16, 1919.

The 18th Amendment was accompanied by enabling legislation known as the Volstead Act (National Prohibition Act), passed by Congress in October 1919. The Act provided guidelines for the federal enforcement of Prohibition and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. Championed by Representative Andrew Volstead of Minnesota, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, the legislation was more commonly known as the Volstead Act.

The enforcement of Prohibition was challenging, and it was largely ineffective. The responsibility for enforcing the Volstead Act initially fell to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) within the Treasury Department, and was later transferred to the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prohibition (also known as the Prohibition Bureau). The Coast Guard also played a role in implementation by pursuing bootleggers attempting to smuggle liquor along the coastline.

Enforcement of Prohibition varied depending on the sympathies of the local population, with rural areas and small towns generally enforcing the law more strictly than urban areas. Despite very early signs of success, including a decline in arrests for drunkenness and a reported 30% drop in alcohol consumption, those who wanted to keep drinking found increasingly inventive ways to do so.

The illegal manufacturing and sale of liquor (known as "bootlegging"), the operation of "speakeasies" (illegal drinking establishments), and the smuggling of alcohol across state lines flourished during the Prohibition era. This led to the rise of criminal activity and organized crime syndicates, with the most notorious example being the Chicago gangster Al Capone, who earned millions of dollars from bootleg operations and speakeasies.

By the late 1920s, a new opposition to Prohibition emerged nationwide, attacking the policy on economic and cultural grounds. The opposition argued that Prohibition lowered tax revenues at a critical time, during the Great Depression, and imposed "rural" Protestant religious values on "urban" America.

As public support for Prohibition waned, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for office in 1932 on a platform calling for its repeal. Roosevelt's victory signaled the end of Prohibition, and in February 1933, Congress adopted a resolution proposing a 21st Amendment to the Constitution to repeal the 18th. The 21st Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933, ending Prohibition.

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