Lesson 13.1 - Prohibition

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Did you miss tonight's class in Temecula?  Minus the discussion regarding Moralists and Reformers, and the basic principles of the American Form of Government, below is what you missed. . . in other words, the handout:

13.1 - Prohibition

Amendment 18 was ratified January 16, 1919, bringing the prohibition of alcohol to America. The amendment was repealed by Amendment 21, December 5, 1933.

Christian churches worked to bring about prohibition as far back as the early 1800s, largely through the campaigning by women and young adults who had been adversely affected by husbands and fathers who were heavy alcohol consumers. Alcohol was considered to be one of the most prevalent social problems in America.  The concerns over the dangers of alcohol brought about The Temperance Movement.  The American Temperance Society was founded in 1826, with the specific goal of outlawing alcohol in the United States.

Local organizations that encouraged abstinence from alcohol existed prior to 1826, as early as 1808.  However, it was not until 1826 that a nationwide temperance society was created.  As the American Temperance Society gained steam, national and international temperance societies sprang up.  Organizations like the Washington Temperance Society did not consider temperance to be a religious issue, while other groups felt compelled by God to proclaim temperance.  Considering the involvement in the movement by a diverse menu of denominations, no one religion is able to claim to have been the originator of temperance ideals.

The most effective weapon of temperance was to advocate total abstinence from alcohol through personal pledges.  The societies gave out pledge cards or medals with various types of pledges written on them.  Not all of the pledges, however, demanded total abstinence, as indicated by the following pledge:

"We agree to abstain from all intoxicating liquors except for medicinal purposes and religious ordinances."

Concerned that being too strict may discourage many from joining their society, some organizations gave people the option to choose the extent of their pledge.  One common practice was to have those who joined a society to sign a book indicating their commitment.  If the person was willing to commit to total abstinence, they would place a capital "T" by their name. The "T" stood for Total or "Total Abstinence". Hence came the term "Tee Totaler" as one who has committed himself to total abstinence.

Through the use of pressure-politics the goal of nationwide prohibition was achieved during World War I with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment in January of 1919.

Congress, in response to the new amendment, passed the "Volstead Act" on October 28, 1919, to enforce the law.  Most large cities refused to enforce the legislation. As the federal government went after bootleggers, it became quickly apparent that the understaffed agencies were fighting a losing battle. Meanwhile, though there was a slight decline in alcohol consumption around the nation, organized crime increased in the larger cities. Alcohol became a high demand cash crop that the criminal element could not resist.

As Prohibition became increasingly unpopular, and the element of organized crime had reached its height, the perceived need for tax revenue during the Great Depression also encouraged a repeal movement. The hope for tax revenue from the legal sale of alcohol, and the need to weaken organized crime, led to the Twenty-First Amendment, which repealed the amendment that had brought Prohibition to America. The repeal returned the legalities of alcohol to the States. Though Prohibition was over nationwide, some counties remained "dry counties," forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages.

In our current society there are calls for the legalization of Marijuana, and other drugs.  Existing federal drug laws enforce a prohibition of drugs.  There is a movement in some parts of government pushing for the legalization of certain drugs, like marijuana.  If at the federal level a number of politicians decided that the legalization of drugs is good for the nation, we could very well see such legislation pass through Congress.  By studying the U.S. Constitution, and taking a lesson from the 18th Amendment, it is apparent that the federal government does not have the authority to ban, or legalize, drugs in America without receiving such an authority through the Amendment Process (as we saw with the 18th Amendment in regards to Alcohol).  The regulation of drugs is a State issue, as per the Tenth Amendment.  This means that all federal drug laws are unconstitutional.

Terms:

Dry Counties - Counties in the United States whose government forbids the sale of alcoholic beverages within the county.

Great Depression - A severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II.

Organized Crime - Transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit.

Prohibition - Period in United States history during which the manufacture and sale of alcohol was prohibited. Drinking alcohol itself was never illegal, and there were always exceptions for medicinal and religious uses.

The Temperance Movement - A social movement urging the reduced use of alcoholic beverages during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Volstead Act - Officially The National Prohibition Act; the law that was the enabling legislation for the Eighteenth Amendment which established prohibition in the United States.

Questions for Discussion:

1.  Why were women a major factor in the temperance movement?

2.  What were some of the factors that contributed to the growing popularity of The Temperance Movement?

3.  What challenges did The Temperance Movement encounter, and how did they adjust (i.e. through the style of pledges, exceptions to abstinence, etc.)

4.  What was the reaction of many local governments to the Volstead Act?

5.  What happened to the presence of organized crime when Prohibition was enacted?  Why?

6.  What were the reasons for repealing Prohibition?

7.  What did Prohibition say about individualism and personal responsibility from the point of view of the federal government?

8.  In what form does Prohibition continue to exist in the United States even today?

9.  What lesson regarding the legalization of other drugs does the 18th Amendment teach us?

Resources:

Kobler, John; Ardent Spirits The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons (1973)

The Temperance Movement, US History.com;
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1054.html

Copyright Douglas V. Gibbs, 2013, Printed in the United States