Was Prohibition a modern or a conservative movement?

Answer 1

Prohibition In the United States (1920-1933) was the era during which the United States government outlawed the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. It also includes the prohibition of alcohol by state action at different times, and the social-political movement to secure prohibition. Selling, manufacturing, or transporting (including importing and exporting) alcohol were prohibited by the Eighteenth Amendment, however drinking and possession of alcohol were never made illegal.
colonial America, informal social controls in the home and community helped maintain the expectation that the abuse of alcohol was unacceptable. 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. Drink itself was not looked upon as culpable, any more than food deserved blame for the sin of gluttony. Excess was a personal indiscretion." When informal controls failed, there were always legal ones. Alcohol abuse was treated with rapid and sometimes severe punishment.

While infractions did occur, the general sobriety of the colonists suggests the effectiveness of their system of informal and formal controls in a population that averaged about three and a half gallons of absolute alcohol per year per person. That rate was dramatically higher than the present rate of consumption.

As the colonies grew from a rural society into a more urban one, drinking patterns began to change. As the American Revolution approached, economic change and urbanization were accompanied by increasing poverty, unemployment, and crime. These emerging social problems were often blamed on drunkenness. Following the Revolutionary War, the new nation experienced cataclysmic social, political, and economic changes that affected every segment of the new society. Social control over alcohol abuse declined, anti-drunkenness ordinances were relaxed and alcohol problems increased dramatically.

It was in this environment that people began seeking an explanation and a solution for drinking problems. One suggestion had come from one of the foremost physicians of the period, Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1784, Dr. Rush argued that the excessive use of alcohol was injurious to physical and psychological health (he believed in moderation rather than prohibition). Apparently influenced by Rush's widely discussed belief, about 200 farmers in a Connecticut community formed a temperance association in 1789. Similar associations were formed in Virginia in 1800 and New York State in 1808. Within the next decade, other temperance organizations were formed in eight states, some being statewide organizations.


[edit] 19th Century
The prohibition or "dry" movement began in the 1840s, spearheaded by pietistic religious denominations, especially the Methodists.

Between 1830 and 1840, most temperance organizations began to argue that the only way to prevent drunkenness was to eliminate the consumption of alcohol. The Temperance Society became the Abstinence Society. The Independent Order of Good Templars, the Sons of Temperance, the Templars of Honor and Temperance, the Anti-Saloon League, the National Prohibition Party and other groups were formed and grew rapidly. With the passage of time, "The temperance societies became more and more extreme in the measures they championed."

While it began by advocating the temperate or moderate use of alcohol, the movement now insisted that no one should be permitted to drink any alcohol in any quantity. It did so with religious fervor and increasing stridency.

The prohibition of alcohol by law became a major issue in every political campaign from the national and state level down to those for school board members. In promoting what many prohibitionists saw as their religious duty, they perfected the techniques of pressure politics. Women in the movement even used their children to march, sing, and otherwise exert pressure at polling places. Dressed in white and clutching tiny American flags, the children would await their instruction to appeal to "wets" as they approached the voting boothSome successes were registered in the 1850s, including Maine's total ban on the manufacture and sale of liquor, adopted in 1851. However, the movement soon lost strength. It revived in the 1880s, with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Prohibition Party.

The Civil War (1861-1865) had interrupted the temperance movement while Americans were preoccupied with that struggle. Then, after the war, the Women's Christian Temperance Union was founded. The organization did not promote moderation or temperance but rather prohibition. One of its methods to achieve that goal was education. It was believed that if it could "get to the children" it could create a dry sentiment leading to prohibition.


"Who does not love wine, wife and song, will be a fool for his lifelong!" — a vigorous 1873 assertion of cultural values of German-American immigrantsIn 1881, Kansas became the first state to outlaw alcoholic beverages in its Constitution, with Carry Nation gaining notoriety for enforcing the provision. Many other states, especially in the South, also enacted prohibition, along with many individual counties. Hostility to saloons and their political influence was characteristic of the Progressive Era. Supported by the anti-German mood of World War I, the Anti-Saloon League, working with both major parties, pushed the Constitutional amendment through Congress and the states, taking effect in 1920.

Prohibition was an important force in state and local politics from the 1840s through the 1930s. The political forces involved were ethnoreligious in character, as demonstrated by numerous historical studies.[1] Prohibition was demanded by the "dries"—primarily pietistic Protestant denominations, especially the Methodists, Northern Baptists, Southern Baptists, Presbyterians, Disciples, Congregationalists, Quakers, and Scandinavian Lutherans. They identified saloons as politically corrupt, and drinking as a personal sin. They were opposed by the "wets"—primarily liturgical Protestants (Episcopalians, German Lutherans) and Roman Catholics, who denounced the idea that the government should define morality.[2] Even in the wet stronghold of New York City there was an active prohibition movement, led by Norwegian church groups and African-American labor activists who believed that Prohibition would benefit workers, especially African-Americans. Tea merchants and soda fountain manufacturers also supported Prohibition, thinking a ban on alcohol would increase sales of their products.[3]


[edit] Nationwide prohibition
Main article: Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Nationwide prohibition was accomplished by means of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (ratified January 16, 1920) and the Volstead Act (passed October 28, 1919). Prohibition began on January 16, 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect. Federal Prohibition agents (police) were given the task of enforcing the law. Principal impetus for the accomplishment of Prohibition were members of the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, and the Prohibition Party. It was truly a cooperative effort with "progressives" making up a substantial portion of both major political parties. The main force were pietistic Protestants, who comprised majorities in the Republican party in the North, and the Democratic party in the South. Catholics and Germans were the main opponents; however, Germans were discredited by World War I and their protests were ignored.

The 65th Congress met in 1917 and the Democratic dries outnumbered the wets by 140 to 64 while Republicans dries outnumbered the wets 138 to 62. The 1916 election saw both Democratic incumbent Woodrow Wilson and Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes ignore the Prohibition issue, as was the case with both party's political platforms. Both Democrats and Republicans had strong wet and dry factions and the election was expected to be close, with neither candidate wanting to alienate any part of their political base.

Prohibition also referred to that part of the Temperance movement which wanted to make alcohol illegal. These groups brought about much change even prior to national prohibition. By 1905, three American states had already outlawed alcohol; by 1912, this was up to nine states; and, by 1916, legal prohibition was already in effect in 26 of the 48 states.

The Progressives claimed to be humanitarians whose stated goal was to better the lives of the common people, one of their most significant acts being passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, which ushered in the era of Prohibition.


[edit] End of prohibition
The Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed nationwide prohibition, explicitly gives states the right to restrict or ban the purchase or sale of alcohol; this has led to a patchwork of laws, in which alcohol may be legally sold in some but not all towns or counties within a particular state. After the repeal of the national constitutional amendment, some states continued to enforce prohibition laws. Mississippi, which had made alcohol illegal in 1907, was the last state to repeal prohibition, in 1966. There are numerous "dry" counties or towns where no liquor is sold; even though liquor can be brought in for private consumption. It was never illegal to drink liquor in the United States.

On March 23, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law an amendment to the Volstead Act known as the Cullen-Harrison bill allowing the manufacture and sale of "3.2 beer" (3.2 percent alcohol by weight) and light wines.[4] The Eighteenth Amendment was repealed later in 1933 with ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment on December 5.

Many social problems have been attributed to the Prohibition era. A profitable, often violent, black market for alcohol flourished. Racketeering happened when powerful gangs corrupted law enforcement agencies. Stronger liquor surged in popularity because its potency made it more profitable to smuggle. The cost of enforcing prohibition was high, and the lack of tax revenues on alcohol (some $500 million annually nationwide) affected government coffers. When repeal of prohibition occurred in 1933, following passage of the Twenty-first Amendment, organized crime lost nearly all of its black market alcohol profits in most states (states still had the right to enforce their own laws concerning alcohol consumption), because of competition with low-priced alcohol sales at legal liquor stores. This possibly lead organized crime to further expansions into more illicit and socially harmful criminal activities such as narcotics.

Prohibition had a notable effect on the brewing industry in the United States. When Prohibition ended, only half the breweries that had previously existed reopened. Wine historians also note that Prohibition destroyed what was a fledgling wine industry in the United States. Productive wine quality grape vines were replaced by lower quality vines growing thicker skinned grapes that could be more easily transported. Much of the institutional knowledge was also lost as wine makers either emigrated to other wine producing countries or left the business altogether.[5]

While the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcohol was illegal in the U.S., it was not illegal in surrounding countries. Distilleries and breweries in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean flourished as their products were either consumed by visiting Americans or illegally imported to the U.S.
The Ku Klux Klan strongly supported Prohibition and its strict enforcement [2].
In the 1890s, Carrie Nation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union fought for prohibition by walking into saloons, scolding customers, and using her hatchet to destroy bottles of liquor. Other activists enforced the cause by entering saloons, singing, praying, and urging saloon keepers to stop selling alcohol [3].
The first beer legally sold in the United States after Prohibition was Utica Club of the F.X. Matt's Brewery in Utica, New York [4].
Despite the efforts of Heber J. Grant and the LDS Church, a Utah convention helped ratify the 21st Amendment [6] While Utah can be considered the deciding 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment and make it law, the day Utah passed the Amendment both Pennsylvania and Ohio passed it as well. All 38 states that decided to hold conventions passed the Amendment, while only 36 states were needed (three fourths of the 48 that existed). So, even if Utah hadn't passed it, it would have become law.

Neo-prohibitionism is the belief that the influence of alcohol on modern society should be reduced, either by legislation restricting the sale and use of alcohol, or by changes to social norms. Because prohibition in the United States and elsewhere has been an unsuccessful - and unpopular - policy in the past, there are no major organizations in the United States that openly claim to be "neo-prohibitionist"; the label is usually applied by critics of a group or individual, rather than by the group or individual themselves

Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Marin Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems

Answer 2

It was both.

Prohibition was a reaction to a couple different issues, some of which are well known and some of which are not so well know. It was a positive attempt, a noble experiment, but it also has a dark side.

On the positive side it was an attempt to limit drunkenness, violence and crime. There can be no doubt and no question that the abuse of alcohol is a problem, today and back then. There is a reason MADD exists, people drink and people die. Not good.

The dark side was that prohibition was also an anti-immigrant statement. "Americans" were tired of being over-run by those immigrants, mostly from Ireland, Italy and Eastern Europe. They were seen as drunks, wife-beaters, and worst of all, (gasp) Roman Catholics. So prohibition was put in as a movement to limit new-comers. In that sense it was conservative. But it was also an effort to tear away from the old ways and try something new. In that sense it was modern. So, it was both.

Answer 3

Prohibition is linked to the women's movement and usually Progressive Era reforms. Back in the day women were considered morally superior to men, so they were socially allowed to dictate the rules regarding topics that would fall under the category of morality issues. These women (who are different from the branch of women who fight for the vote.. feminist) pretty much thought that drinking led to prostitution, etc. A main women's group that supported prohibition was the Women Christian Temperance Movement. They would protest against saloons... which happened to be closely linked to prostitution. I would argue that the women's movement that supported prohibition was not entirely successful. While prohibition was latter enforced the movement didn't gain a whole lot of support until corporate America started weighing in on the issue. Big business would benefit from sober workers.... surprise surprise... anyways.. hope that helps

Answer 4

conservative movement for sure, it stems from the Progressive reform movement of the early 1900's. Prohibition, Temperance and nearly any other effort to remove vice from American society is affliated with conservative movements

Answer 5

Prohibition was a reform movement, but with the backing of many churches. It was led by several woman's groups to fight drunkenness in men.