why did the USA introduce prohibition in 1919?

Question

and it was from 1919-1939 right?

Answer 1

It was 1920 to 1933. The government thought the problems related to alcohol consumption,like erratic behavior,personality disorders,crime,etc. could be regulated by stopping the public sale of alcohol. this created more problems through criminal manufacture and distribution of alcohol which actually made the whole thing much worse,plus the government was losing all the tax income from legal sales. So now they had to come up with more money to fight the same problem. The Prohibition law was finally seen as the wrong solution and repealed. And nobody has come up with any real lasting effective solution yet. People like and often need to drink and they will do it whether legal or not.

Answer 2

Prohibition Act Of 1919

Answer 3

Prohibition went into effect in 1921 and ended in 1932. It was signed into law in 1919 and went into effect a little over a year later.

For years, believers in temperance were pushing for the ban on alcohol. The years just before and durring World War 1 were called the Progressive Era. Women achieved the right to vote, and senators became elected by the people as opposed to being elected by state legislatures for the first time in American history. The voting age was reduced to 18, but with a fear of the drug addiction and widespread alcoholism that occured to vetrans of the Civil War, drinking laws became very strict.

This led to a huge rise in organized crime.

Answer 4

Most of what has been said above is true, but I want to clarify a few things. The GOVT, did not determine that our country should be dry(prohibition of alcohol sales and manufacture), it was the temperance movement(church groups, salvation army, etc) who through the political process in each state passed an amendment to the US Constitution, without the PEOPLE voting for it, the Govt would have taken no action.

whale

Answer 5

To lower the crime rate, remove the tax burden from overflowing jails of drunks, sober up the poor....but if you ask me it was all political to win a vote! It didn't really work bc it didn't take long for illegal breweries, speakeasies, and a black market to open up...except now they didn't pay taxes on it. It did have an impact on our country though, because some areas are still "dry" counties....meaning they do not sell alcohol there.

Answer 6

The Temperance Movement began during the 1840's both in America and in Great Britain in responce to a widespread opinion that excessive drinking was destroying society. An opinion bolstered by the rough & tumble of a mostly frontier society that did little to discourage alcohol. Public displays of drunkeness were not unknown and much had to do with how cheap & availible alcohol was (and is - - - still the cheapest high on the market circa 2007). During the 1800's it was often easier for farmers to convert grain into alcohol rather than shipping it as grain. Even when this changed with improvements in transportation the improvements in agriculture contrbuted to increased crop yield so with a surplus of grain it made sence to turn it into alcohol.

Throughout the later 1800's the Temperance Movement grew stronger. Books & Magazines and popular plays portrayed Alcohol as evil, creating the myth of 'Demon Rum,' reinforcing the idea that people did not have free will, that alcohol by its very presence drove people to drink - - - the same argument used for stomping out 'drugs.' If it exists people will use it!!

State by State city by city ordinances were passed restricting sales of liquor, the earliest age limits on selling to minors pop up, all of the part of 'The Progressive Movement.' Depending on your views about alcohol things got progressively better or worse. By 1900 entire states were 'dry.' But the cry went out, 'America Ought to Be Dry.' Here is the funny part, those states right activist who insist that states whould determine wether they want slavery or not or nowadays wether same sex people can marry, those state right activist were the loudest screaming for a nationwide ban on alcohol.

A Republican Dominated Congress in 1919 passed 'The Volstead Act,' named in honor of the acts sponsor Republican Congressman Andrew Volstead. Democrat Woodrow Wilson vetoed the bill but since WIlson managed to p+ss off Republicans & Democrats alike, they over road Wilson's Veto more out of spite than anything. Volstead was sincere, he was a teatotaler, but many of those Congressmen (no women sat in Congress at the time) who voted for Prohibition were heavy drinkers and would continue to drink,

So a conscise answer; Congress was angry at Wilson and Prohibition sounded like a Worthy Family Values Issue that would play well with people fed up with the damage done by alcohol, because as everyone knew, it was Demon Rum and Not Personal Responsibility that was the issue.
The horrible experiment ended in 1933 because with the nation mired in a Depression everyone needed a drink.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volstead_Act
""The Volstead Act is the popular name for the National Prohibition Act (1919). It enabled Federal enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which had banned the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" in the United States. The Volstead Act also provided enabling legislation for the amendment, treating such matters as the definition of "intoxicating liquors", medicinal use, and criminal penalties.

The law was popularly named after Andrew Volstead, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversaw its passage. However, Volstead served as the legislation’s sponsor and facilitator rather than its author. It was the Anti-Saloon League’s Wayne Wheeler who conceived and drafted the bill.

The bill was vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson (largely on technical grounds, because it also covered wartime prohibition) but overridden by Congress on the same day, October 28, 1919. The Volstead Act specified that “no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act.” It did not specifically prohibit the purchase or use of intoxicating liquors. The act defined intoxicating liquor as any beverage over 0.5% alcohol and superseded all existing prohibition laws in effect in states with such legislation. The combination of the Eighteenth Amendment and the laws passed under its authority became known as simply "Prohibition" and enormously impacted United States society in the 1920's (popularly known as the Roaring Twenties).

The effects of Prohibition were largely unanticipated. Production, importation and distribution of alcoholic beverages -- once the province of legitimate business -- were taken over by criminal gangs, which fought each other for market control in violent confrontations, often including mass murder. (See, e.g., Al Capone.) The top gangsters became rich and were admired by many, effectively making murderers into national celebrities. Enforcement was difficult: the gangs became so rich that they were often able to bribe underpaid and understaffed law-enforcement personnel. Many citizens were sympathetic to bootleggers and respectable citizens were lured to the romance of illegal speakeasies (also called "blind pigs"). Those inclined to assist authorities were often intimidated,even murdered. In several major cities -- notably those which served as major point of liquor importation, such as Chicago and Detroit -- gangs wielded effective political power. (A state police raid on Detroit's Deutsches Haus once netted the mayor, the sheriff, and the local congressman.)

Prohibition also lost advocates as alcohol gained increasing social acceptance. The loosening of social mores during the 1920's included popularizing the cocktail and the cocktail party among higher socioeconomic groups.

By 1933, public opposition to prohibition had become overwhelming. In January, 1933, Congress sought to preempt opposition with the Blair Act, which legalized "3.2 beer" (i.e., beer 3.2% alcohol by weight or 4% by volume), but it was insufficient. Congress proposed an amendment to repeal Prohibition in February and, on December 5, 1933, the nation ratified the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and restored control of alcohol to the states.""

But This Link is Much More Fun and tells all about the Temperance Movement
http://www.librarycompany.org/ArdentSpirits/index.htm
"""American Temperance Union Pledge
We whose names are hereunto annexed, believing that the use of intoxicating liquor, as a beverage, is not only needless, but hurtful to the social, civil, and religious interests of men: that it tends to form intemperate appetites and habits, and that while it is continued, the evils of intemperance can never be done away: do therefore agree that we will not use it or traffic in it: that we will not provide it as an article of entertainment or for persons in our employment: and that in all suitable ways, we will discountenance the use of it throughout the community.""

Have a beer and sleep on it!! Good Luck

Peace.