In 1860 there was a big move of people westward in the USA, most as farmers and miners. Many of them were strict protestants they believed alcohol was the work of the devil. The first leaders of the temperance movement were women. They blamed alcohol for disease and death, crime, violence, drunken behaviour, neglect and for poverty. Then the W.C.T.U women Christian temperance union was set up. Their original idea was to make saloons illegal. They then aimed to get the making and selling of alcohol illegal.
They took their idea to Kansas and it became the first dry state in 1880. Heavy industry grew in mid America. Many immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Italy arrived. Alcohol was part of their lives and the W.C.T.U tried to educate them out of it. Germans were blamed for introducing beer and were the brewery owners. Soon a new organisation called the Anti-Saloon League or A.S.L were set up by businessmen like Wayne Wheeler to support prohibition and linked up with the protestant church and politicians.
By 1912 there were 9 states that had voted for politicians who supported prohibition and had became dry, but many cities were still wet.
Three big employers who supported the A.S.L were Ford, Rockefeller and Dupent, they thought it would effect their efficiency and they were worried about their workers being late and drunk or come to work with hangovers. The A.S.L wanted a national ban in 1915. In 1917 America entered the 1st world war. This was a turning point because the A.S.L linked beer drinking with the enemy and temperance with patriotism.
Between 1917 & 1918 the support for prohibition grew. The prohibition campaigners thought they shouldn’t become a country of heavy drinkers because it would lead to brutality and cruelty in the way alcohol makes an individual act. They couldn’t behave, act and work properly when they got drunk. It was said that growing crops to produce alcohol didn’t help the war effort because they were spending time producing alcohol instead of essentials like bread which they couldn’t win a war without. Many thought that alcohol wasn’t good for a country trying to win a war. The message was also put around that buying beer helped Germany because they were the owners of many breweries, this meant that they got lots of profits from America for them to spend on weaponry to use against the USA. The A.S.L used the war to help encourage prohibition by using anti-drink propaganda, referring to its effects on the war effort, the number of dry states increased enormously. The alcohol was portrayed as the reason for the German’s aggression. They also said that America would never be able to win the war with people drinking alcohol. In 1919 the Volstead act was passed and came into force a year later. The sale, manufacture and transport of alcohol was banned. Prohibition lasted for 13 years and failed.
Prohibition was introduced into the USA in 1920. Groups of supporters and campaigners for prohibition were set up. Kansas became the first dry state after the W.C.T.U took their ideas there and found many new supporters. Immigrants arrived and were educated to get alcohol out of their lives. A new organisation was set up called the Anti Saloon League and soon there was another 9 dry states. They blamed alcohol on health issues, the effect in efficiency of businesses, the effort of U.S soldiers and the aggression of the Germans. Prohibition was very ineffective it the lead to crimes and violence
