History Coursework: Assignment 1 - Prohibition

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History Coursework: Assignment 1 - Prohibition

. Why was Prohibition introduced in the USA in 1919?

The main reason prohibition was introduced in 1919 was that the alcohol people drunk was the blame for drunkenness, crime and poverty. Organisations such as the Anti-Saloon league had been campaigning for a total, state-wide ban on alcohol for a long time. The Anti - Saloon league was highly supported by the churches and many small towns and rural areas.

From the 1800s, temperance (Not Drinking Alcohol) was a common feature of religious groups that had settled in America in the 1800s. However, the dries (Supporters Of Prohibition) became stronger with the formation of the WCTU (Women's Christian Temperance Union) in 1873 and the Anti - Saloon League in 1893.

The main differences between prohibition and temperance were that in Prohibition, all inhabitants of America were banned from selling and making Alcohol, but in temperance, they could sell it and make it as long as they didn't drink it. So they are very different, although they have the same aims.

The dries were mainly the strongest in the rural areas of the South and Mid-west of America. They campaigned in each of the states for alcohol to be banned. They had a large success, so much that by 1914 some states had already prohibited making alcohol within the states, but not the selling of it.

By the late 1800s, "King Alcohol" as it was known, caused more than 75% of paupery crime. More than 50% of insanity which must have meant that the government and the people would have believed that Prohibition would be a good idea, as it would reduce crime. Factory owners believed that until booze was banished, they could never have efficient workers. The factory owners were not interested in the moral side of the issue, just the matter of profits and production of goods.
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By 1917, the Anti-Saloon league had managed to make prohibition one of the biggest issues of American politics. At election times, every politician was asked on their views on this issue. Any politician who admitted he was wet ( Pro Alcohol) knew that he would stand to lose hundreds of votes. This shows that people thought that prohibition would be a good idea, as they believed it would reduce crime, when in fact it increased organised crime.

When America entered the First World War in 1917, the "dries" had a massive advantage over the wets. It gave ...

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