January 17, 1920: The Law that Dried the Nation
Photo: Chuttersnap @Unsplash
Through the nineteenth century, national resentment of the abuses of alcohol and its consumption in saloons grew slowly but incessantly. Alcohol consumption was considered a demoralizing and dangerous habit, a deplorable institution, and a form of social slavery. The proposals for prohibiting the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol started at a local level, initiated by prohibition movements such as the Anti-Saloon League and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement. Large-scale producers went bankrupt, and corruption reached unprecedented levels. Instead of reducing crime, poverty, and violence, prohibition had sparked organized crime, bootlegging, and worsened drinking habits.