The anti saloon league was also joined by the women’s temperance league (founded in 1893); both these societies were strong in religious supporters. Mainly from the southern states, the people in the pressure groups were afraid that the immigration and new way of life in the more northern industrial cities was causing a threat towards their more rural communities where they depended upon farming as their livelihood.
The woman’s temperance league were also strong campaigners on the idea that alcohol was responsibly for a growing trend of poverty sweeping through the United States. The Women's suffrage movement as well as the women’s temperance league had been exerting an increasing amount of influence over political events since 1914. Alcohol prohibition had been an issue that they had also fought for as much as for the right to vote.
In the western states, the women and their families were the most influential, empowered by the fact that they could now vote unlike women in other areas of America. They organised the Women's War: where they walked to saloons to make examples of the men who were inside drinking and encouraged female candidates to run for official positions, which in turn provided a chance to pass their beliefs through the system to Congress.
The rural communities were mainly protestant communities and they felt under threat from the new immigration of Irish and Italian immigrants who were catholic and had strong drinking cultures. The communities in the south were god fearing and so did not openly accept this no way of acting as they feared it morally wrong. Because of propaganda from the anti-saloon league many people saw alcohol as a moral evil that lead to drunkenness, poverty and sexual immorality.
The pressure groups saw the problem alcohol was having on society and saw how it increased crime within cities. Campaigners agreed that if the prohibition was introduced these problems would cease and protect and preserve the white Anglo-Saxon way of life and their views that you achieved the American dream through hard work and respect for god as well as family.
Socially due to the ending of world war one, drinking of alcohol especially beer was seen as unpatriotic. This was because although having been brought by American business men many of the beer companies such as Budweiser were originally of German origin and had German names. Another factor to do with the war was a temporary introduction of prohibition in 1917 to help preserve grain which was going to feed the troops who were away fighting. It was also seen as wrong to be enjoying a drink when the country’s young men were away fighting for peace.
Drinking during this time was seen as depriving the deserving troops of food. There could also be the belief that alcohol lead to a break done in discipline within the troops which started the ban in the first place.
Furthermore the idea that alcoholic drinks reduced discipline was shown with workers. It reduced the amount of workers who turned up at work each day because of hangovers and thus decreased production this got major companies worry that their economic wealth was falling.
Even more so was the worry that America was losing its status as the world’s number one industrial and economical country, due the number of people taking days off that were related to drinking.
This made big business men such as Rockefeller try to do something to stop all the absentees. Rockefeller was a supporter of the anti-saloon league and gave over $350,000 to their campaigns to bring about the prohibition before 1920. The influence of powerful business men such as Rockefeller put even more pressure onto politicians to act.
The pressure for prohibition came at a time when it was seen as the government as responsibility to solve all social problems, such as prostitution and child labour. Prohibition was seen as another social issue because of its link with domestic violence
Politicians in the south were eager to secure the votes from the people living in the large areas of rural America. They saw the idea of backing the prohibition as a way to get the votes from those in rural communities as it would appeal to their wishes.
They also saw it as a way to preserve the values of America, the idea of a hardworking community who respected god and their family. The politicians saw this as a way to protect these values, by agreeing to the terms of the prohibition.
The pressure groups such as the anti saloon league also mobilised dry politicians to campaign for the introduction of the prohibition. They had a great influence over the politicians they got elected. They tried to get as many ‘dry’ politicians into power as possible so that their message could be spread to the people who could bring about the change in the law that they were campaigning for.
Also because of world war one politicians didn’t want people to think they supported unpatriotic behaviour of drinking beer that was manufactured by German owned companies or in drinking alcohol that had been made from grain that could have been sent to feed the troops who were fighting abroad.
Therefore was hard for politicians to stand up to the pressure groups at the time, the faced losing a lot of support from rural and religious Americans if they said they liked a drink and were against the banning of alcohol. They were caught up with the views of the pressure groups that alcohol was the cause for the breakdown of families and an increase in poverty in the country. It was just easier for the politicians to go along with what the pressure groups wanted than to stand up and oppose them.
Furthermore politicians who found it hard to deal with pressure groups such as the anti saloon league also found themselves up against the religious movements of the time. The churches had been mobilised by the anti saloon league and they were keen to protect and preserve the great American value of respecting and obeying god.
The protestant churches in rural communities had a lot of backing from the local people and so made quite an effective pressure group; they had a large influence over the protestant communities in the south.
The church viewed the immigrant groups as a threat to their way of life especially the Irish and Italian catholic communities who had a large drinking culture, to the god fearing protestant communities these new immigrants were threatening their way of living. The church also didn’t approve of the way alcohol fuelled crime and the fact that the immigrant communities in the cities were becoming ever more influence as America became even more industrialised, with the cities spreading out into the countryside.
Therefore prohibition was introduced due to many factors most of them in some way influenced by social reasons, such as the strong support the ban for alcohol had received from campaigners in the women’s temperance league and the anti-saloon league. These pressure group were the real drive behind the introduction of the prohibition as they were the ones who caused the other factors to become involved due to their work.
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