Prohibition Info

The irony of the success of the temperance movement that led to the passing of 18th Amendment was that by prohibiting the production and consumption of alcohol, alcohol became more fashionable than ever before. The temperance movement began long before Prohibition went in to effect in 1920. Alcohol production was highly unregulated before the Civil War, and home-distilled moonshine had become far too prolific for a number of people to tolerate. The Very Reverend Theobald Mathew gained a substantial following back in the early to mid 1800s after launching a grassroots protest of alcohol abuse, which he believed was plaguing the nation. The notion of prohibiting homemade alcohol was not quite as radically reactive as it may seem today. Ad-hoc distilleries often exploded, resulting considerable property damage, injuries, and deaths. Proponents of Reverend Mathew's movement believed that consumption of this unregulated alcohol had similar results. During the latter half of the 19th Century, the nation suddenly became concerned with far more pressing matters. Temperance was the least the country's concerns as it struggled to keep itself together during the Civil War. But not long after the dust settled, the movement to abolish alcohol reemerged in the public consciousness. The Women's Christian Temperance Union picked up where Rev. Mathew left off.

The Industrial Revolution played a significant role as well. The Anti-Saloon league was widely supported in a new workplace that demanded sobriety more than any other in history. Long hours, heavy machinery, and hazardous working conditions made for a perilous working environment, even for the sober laborer. In 1916, just over twenty years after the Anti-Saloon league came into being, twenty one states had banned all establishments that produced or sold alcohol. Four years later, the 18th Amendment made Prohibition the law of the land.

It's no coincidence that the decade known as "The Roaring Twenties" began at the onset of Prohibition. All of a sudden, getting one's hands on a cocktail became irresistibly mischievous. A short time before, the general feeling among the public was that alcohol was an unbecoming vice, and consuming it carried a social stigma. When it became illegal, it was instantly chic.

The Great War was over and people were in the mood to celebrate. Speakeasies cropped up in cities from coast to coast, and the nation underwent a period of clandestine revelry unlike anything it had ever experienced. Bootleggers organized into gangs, and in no time, they were running a nationwide illegitimate industry. This violent underworld might have undermined the jovial mood of the nation, but people were willing to look the other way as long as the booze kept flowing. And that it did.

Not only was alcohol fashionable, but alcohol accessories became all the rage as the number home bars grew and people stocked up on glassware, ice buckets, and stir sticks. Owning and carrying a flask became in vogue thanks to alcohol's illicit status. The ice buckets, stir sticks, and flasks from this era are valuable collector's items today.

Prohibition quickly became a rule made to be broken, and as a result, alcohol lost its stigma as the bane of a young nation. It lasted for thirteen years. Partially motivated by the tax benefit to alleviate the destitution of the Great Depression, Congress adopted the 21st Amendment, thus ending Prohibition and an age of unparalleled fascination with alcohol.