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The Prohibition era was the period from 1920 to 1933 when the United States prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. [1] The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, and Prohibition was formally introduced nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on January 16, 1919.
People knew that one could not control their behaviour when they were drunk. Religion, particularly Christianity, was another moral factor that led to prohibition. Many of the organizations that were pushing for prohibition were directly linked to various Christian denominations. [4] This is true, but only if they drink alcohol in large amounts.
Concern over excessive alcohol consumption began during the American colonial era, when fines were imposed for drunken behavior and for selling liquor without a license. [51] In the mid-19th century evangelical Protestants denounced drinking as sinful and demanded the prohibition of the sale of beer, wine and liquor.
In fact, alcohol consumption and the incidence of alcohol-related domestic violence were decreasing before the Eighteenth Amendment was adopted. Following the imposition of Prohibition, reformers "were dismayed to find that child neglect and violence against children actually increased during the Prohibition era." [12]
Alcohol smuggling (known as rum-running or bootlegging) and illicit bars (speakeasies) became popular in many areas. Public sentiment began to turn against Prohibition during the 1920s, and 1932 Democratic presidential nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt called for its repeal.
During the 18th century, Native American cultures and societies were severely affected by alcohol, which was often given in trade for furs, leading to poverty and social disintegration. [8] As early as 1737, Native American temperance activists began to campaign against alcohol and for legislation to restrict the sale and distribution of ...
The Drunkard's Progress: A lithograph by Nathaniel Currier supporting the temperance movement, January 1846.. In the United States, the temperance movement, which sought to curb the consumption of alcohol, had a large influence on American politics and American society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, culminating in the prohibition of alcohol, through the Eighteenth Amendment to the ...
The subsequent enactment of the Volstead Act established federal enforcement of the nationwide prohibition on alcohol. As many Americans continued to drink despite the amendment, Prohibition gave rise to a profitable black market for alcohol, fueling the rise of organized crime. Throughout the 1920s, Americans increasingly came to see ...