Prohibition in America, was a temperance movement that peaked in 1919.
On January 16th, 1920 the prohibition of the sale and consumption of alcohol became law, sanctioned under the Volstead Act, which was ratified in January of 1919. The law carried with it some heavy penalties. Fines of up to $1,000 were imposed on those caught defying the Volstead Act. Those who were unable to pay their fines faced a six month jail term.
The Anti Saloon League of America was instrumental in the passage of the law to outlaw alcohol. Convinced that ridding the country of the ‘demon drink’ was the only way to preserve Christianity, they were delighted with the new law.
Alabama was an unusually strong supporter of National Prohibition when it was established in 1920. Residents generally believed that the Noble Experiment would improve health, increase safety, reduce violence, raise public morality and create a better environment for young people.
Prohibition in America was hard to enforce.
History of Prohibition in America
History of Prohibition in America
Giving women the right to vote enhanced the movement in the early 1900s in the history of prohibition in America.
National Prohibition in the United States had been viewed by tens of millions of Americans as the solution to the nation's poverty, crime, violence, and other ills and they eagerly embraced it. Upon establishment of the Noble Experiment in 1920, Evangelist Billy Sunday staged a mock funeral for alcoholic beverages and then extolled on the benefits of the reduction of alcohol. "The rein of tears is over," he asserted. "The slums will soon be only a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corn cribs." Since alcohol was to be banned and since it was seen as the cause of most, if not all, crime, some communities sold their jails
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., a lifelong abstainer who had contributed at least $350,000 to the Anti-Saloon League, announced his support for repeal because of the widespread problems caused by Prohibition.6 He explained his change of belief in a letter published in The New York Times:
When the Eighteenth Amendment was passed I earnestly hoped- with a host of advocates of temperance-that it would be generally supported by public opinion and thus the day be hastened when the value to society of men with minds and bodies free from the undermining effects of alcohol would be generally realized. That this has not been the result, but rather that drinking has generally increased; that the speakeasy has replaced the saloon, not only unit for unit, but probably two-fold if not three-fold; that a vast array of lawbreakers has been recruited and financed on a colossal scale; that many of our best citizens, piqued at what they regarded as an infringement of their private rights, have openly and unabashedly disregarded the Eighteenth Amendment; that as an inevitable result respect for all law has been greatly lessened; that crime has increased to an unprecedented degree-I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe.
Repeal of Prohibition - Democrat Party
Democrats used Prohibition as an issue and this time their candidate, Franklin Roosevelt was swept into the White House. In February of 1933 Congress
passed the 21st amendment which repealed prohibition. On December 5th of that year the 21st Amendment was ratified. America was no longer dry.
Twenty-first Amendment - Repeal of Prohibition in America
National Prohibition had been repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment which contains two short but important sentences:
Section 1: The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2: The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section one made it again legal to import, produce, and sell beverage alcohol, while section two delegated to the individual states authority for regulating such beverages. Some states continued prohibition at the state level. The last state repealed it in 1966. Almost two-thirds of all states adopted some form of local option which enabled residents in political subdivisions to vote for or against local prohibition. Therefore, despite the repeal of prohibition at the national level, 38 percent of the nation's population lived in areas with state or local prohibition.
1 Kings 14:22, 24
And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.
And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
27 Delay not to do good to the needy, when it is in the power of thy hand to help. 28 Do not say, Go away and come again: to-morrow I will give--when thou hast it in thy power to do good; for thou knowest not what to-morrow will bring forth. 29 Devise not evils against thy friend, who sojourneth with thee and confideth in thee. 30 Be not at enmity with a man without cause; lest he do thee some mischief. 31 Acquire not the reproaches of bad men, nor be fond of their ways. 32 For every transgressor is impure in the sight of the Lord, and among the righteous he taketh not a seat. 33 The curse of God is in the houses of the wicked: but the folds of the righteous are blessed. 34 The Lord resisteth the proud; but He granteth favour to the humble. 35 The wise shall inherit glory; but the wicked have extolled dishonour.
