The Prohibition Movement Historical Significance in the United States

Controlling Alcoholic Beverages: Two Approaches The DrinkerMarketing of Alcohol

Drinking in the American Past The Alcoholic Republic: Early Nineteenth Century Temperance and Abstinence Pledges Gradual growth of ideas of the personal and social harms caused by drinking

What Was Prohibition? 1)The Prohibition Movement began before the Civil War 2)Prohibition was part of a broad regulatory movement in the Progressive Era of the early Twentieth Century 3)National Prohibition was control over the marketing of alcoholic beverages

What Was Prohibition? The Eighteenth Amendment: “ 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”

Prohibition and Drinking The Volstead Act (1919) provided for enforcement and defined liquor narrowly, forbidding brewing of beer, for example The Volstead Act did not outlaw the consumption or possession of alcoholic beverages Some states outlawed drinking

Control “The Liquor Traffic”

What Was “The Liquor Traffic?” Distilled Spirits – Production in distilleries – Sales to Wholesalers and Rectifiers – Bottling for Retail Distribution – Saloons as Retailer Before 1890 most alcohol was consumed as spirits.

What Was “The Liquor Traffic?” German immigration and the rise of the Lager Brewing Industry The technologies of Lager Beer Distribution – Refrigeration – Barrels on Tap in Saloons – Bottled and Pasteurized Beer Sales Grew in the Decade before National Prohibition – Before Prohibition Retail Sales Occurred mostly in Saloons

Competition Among Brewers Local Brewing and German-American Communities Rise of Shipping Breweries after 1870 Growth of Regional Breweries

The Saloon The Tied House System Competition Among Saloons The Ubiquitous Saloon

The 19 th Century Approach The Prohibition Party The Woman’s Crusade and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union

Women and The Liquor Traffic

Women’s Crusade of

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union Organized in Cleveland in 1874 Controlled by Women Sought referenda on behalf of state prohibition laws and local option laws International

Frances Willard Worked on Behalf of Many Social and Feminist Reforms Died in 1898 as the Second Best-Known Woman in the English- Speaking World

1893: Birth of the Anti-Saloon League The non-partisan strategy Incremental Approach – Local Option by Precinct and Ward – County Option – State Prohibition

The Campaign for National Prohibition 1913: decision for national amendment The financial and organizational resources The mushrooming of public opinion 1916: Winning Congress 1917: Associating Liquor with German enemies

Passage of the 18 th Amendment Wartime fervor helped speed the passage, but votes in Congress were there before the U.S. declared war Opponents put a time frame of 7 years for passage Passage occurred very quickly—wartime fervor probably helped

Prohibition Was Popular Large Congressional Majorities 1928: Hoover elected as the first “dry” President Drinking dropped dramatically under prohibition Many leaders observed a reduction in social problems associated with drinking