Prohibition
- 1. Prohibition
- 2. Prohibition in the United States was a measure designed to reduce drinking to do so businesses that manufactured, distributed, and sold alcoholic beverages needed to be eliminated
- 3. The prohibition movement's strength grew, especially after the formation of the Anti-Saloon League in 1893 The League, and other organizations that supported prohibition soon began to succeed in enacting local prohibition laws. Eventually the prohibition campaign was a national effort.
- 4. During this time, the brewing industry was the most prosperous of the beverage alcohol industries Americans called retail businesses selling beer and whiskey by the glass saloons. It was not uncommon to find one saloon for every 150 or 200 Americans, including those who did not drink.
- 5. The prohibition leaders believed that once license to do business was removed from the liquor traffic, the churches and reform organizations would enjoy an opportunity to persuade Americans to give up drink. Some prohibition leaders looked forward to an educational campaign that would greatly expand once the drink businesses became illegal, and would eventually, in about thirty years, lead to a sober nation.
- 6. Other prohibition leaders looked forward to vigorous enforcement of prohibition in order to eliminate supplies of beverage alcohol. After 1920, neither group of leaders was especially successful
- 7. The best evidence available to historians shows that consumption of beverage alcohol declined dramatically under prohibition. In the early 1920s, consumption of beverage alcohol was about thirty per cent of the pre-prohibition level. Consumption grew somewhat in the last years of prohibition, as illegal supplies of liquor increased and as a new generation of Americans disregarded the law and rejected the attitude of self-sacrifice that was part of the bedrock of the prohibition movement.
- 8. Nevertheless, it was a long time after repeal before consumption rates rose to their pre-prohibition levels. In that sense, prohibition "worked."