Prohibition in America

Prohibition in America

Prohibition is the forbidding by law of the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol liquors except for medicinal and sacramental purposes. In Early America there was a clear consensus that while alcohol was a gift from God, its abuse was from the Devil. Drunkenness was condemned and punished, but only as an abuse of a God-given gift. Communities attempted to stop alcohol abuse with informal controls but when informal controls failed, there were always legal ones. People began to push for legal ways to limit alcohol abuse. In the 1800's temperance organizations began to sprout up across America.

The prohibition or "dry" movement began in the 1840s, mostly supported by devoted religious organizations, especially the Methodists. In the late 1800s the temperance movement moved its focus from abstinence to all behavior and institutions related to alcohol consumption. This meant that anything related to alcohol in any way, they felt, should be banned. With the American Civil War (1861-1865) the movement soon lost it's strength, and prohibition was no longer a major political issue.

After the war, the Temperance Movement was revived in the 1880s, with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Prohibition Party. These organizations and activists did not promote moderation or temperance but prohibition. One of their methods to achieve that goal was education. It was believed that if they could get to the children they could create a pro-dry opinion leading to prohibition. Many activists enforced their cause by entering saloons, singing, praying, and urging saloon keepers to stop selling alcohol. Prohibition was widely supported by diverse groups. Progressives believed that it would improve society and the Ku Klux Klan strongly supported its strict enforcement as generally did women. Southerners, those living in rural areas, and African-Americans were also big supporters. Finally in 1881, Kansas became the first state to outlaw alcoholic beverages in its Constitution. After Kansas many other states, especially in the South, soon began to enact prohibition.

State Prohibition was not good enough though, the organizations and activists wanted prohibition on a national level. On this matter most of the country was split into two groups, the "Drys" and the "Wets." The "Drys" were primarily devoted religious followers and they identified saloons as politically