Women had tough lives with husbands who drank. Many women had to put up with their drunken husbands coming home from the saloons and expecting the house to be cleaned and the dinner ready etc. Husbands could be violent towards their family and they were not spending enough time with them; this threatened family life. Drinking was a man’s game and women were not involved. In 1873, a woman called Elizabeth Thomson formed a group of women to sing and pray outside saloons. She was successful in humiliating the men and forcing them to leave. Her actions led to saloons being shut down and this opened the doorway for other women to act against alcohol. This was the only way they could get involved with politics as they could not vote- they were considered stupid, uneducated and unable to decide what was best for their country. They were meant to stay at home and look after the family.
In 1875, Frances Willard set up the W.C.T.U (Women’s Christian Temperance Union). Her movement pushed the idea of banning alcohol to the public eye and into politics. She wrote to thousands of women all over the country persuading them to support prohibition and telling them how alcohol was the source of all America’s problems. She said that alcohol was the cause of politics being run by drunks, child poverty, city slums, unemployment and poor conditions at work.
Kansas became the first state to enforce prohibition. This influenced other parts of the country to consider the idea of prohibition A woman called Carrie Nation also supported prohibition and she came up with the ‘hatchet campaign’. She went to the saloons in Kansas with an axe and destroyed them all. The police could not charge her because the saloons were illegal, but she was not welcomed by the W.C.T.U. because she affected their image by not making them seem serious.
As America industrialised more immigrants moved into the country and set up their businesses. America discovered a way to mass produce beer and so German beer producers set up factories and advertised the benefits of drinking.
Businessmen were becoming worried that people were spending too much money on drink, instead of buying their goods. In 1893, a group of Ohio businessmen set up the Anti-Saloon league. Their legal advisor, Wayne Wheeler, helped their campaign by using propaganda and manipulating events to raise support for candidates prepared to vote for prohibition. They gave out the message: support prohibition and the Anti-saloon league would support you regardless of which party you belonged to. This made politicians support prohibition, even if they did not believe in the idea. Now that prohibition was being supported by men, it could now be moved to the political arena as men have the vote. Henry Ford supported prohibition and he helped, along with others such as Rockafella and Dupont, bring prohibition to the cities. Businesses were attracted by the idea of a workforce free of alcohol that were sober and did not take time off work from hangovers.
The anti-saloon league used propaganda to gain support for prohibition. They said that alcohol production was a waste of resources and time, when there was the war going on they should not use grain to make spirits. Also, they did not want the troops who are fighting for their country, to be drunk; they had to be ready to fight. Drinking was seen as unpatriotic and it could appear that you were supporting the Germans, as many of the brewers were German. It seemed that every problem America had could be traced back to alcohol. To be against prohibition was to say you were supporting unemployment, child poverty, urban slums and child abuse. It became popular not to drink but to look after your family and to work hard.
In January 1920, the Volstead Act was passed: prohibition became the law all over America. The country had a year to get rid of all alcohol and for any brewers or distillers to sell up and find new jobs. Of course, not everyone agreed with this and America was soon to face the problems of prohibition.
