Each state’s Prohibition and Repeal was both similar yet unique. (See Prohibition and Repeal Experiences of Various States.) Prohibition in Tennessee, along with its repeal, was no exception. Discover Tennessee’s experience with both.
Overview
I. Prohibition Welcomed
II. Repeal
III. Resources
I. Prohibition in Tennessee Welcomed
National Prohibition in Tennessee was welcomed. Temperance had a long history in the state. By 1907 the sale of alcohol was prohibited throughout most of Tennessee. Ten years later state-wide prohibition occurred. Then it became illegal for anyone to have any alcohol.
Prohibition in Tennessee was popular. Most residents thought it would be helpful. They thought it would to lead to improved health. To less violence. And to greater safety. That it would increased public morality. That it would create a better environment for young people. The General Assembly voted almost unanimously for it.
Problems
But many people were not willing to give up their freedom to drink. And the state’s rugged terrain was ideal for hiding moonshine stills.
Corruption
With easy, untaxed money to be made, police and sheriffs were routinely bribed. Politicians were also widely on the take.
The rampant graft and corruption caused by Prohibition created a deep lack of respect for law. It became the fashion to flaunt it. Especially among women and young people. For the first time in history, women began to drink in public.
Prohibition also led to the pattern of less often but very heavy drinking. People didn’t go to a speakeasy to have a leisurely drink with a meal. They went to guzzle alcohol while they could.
Bootleg Dangerous
Bootleg alcohol was carelessly made. It often contained lead toxins. .
Consumers sometimes suffered paralysis, blindness and even death. This led some drinkers in the state to switch to hair tonic, mouthwash and illegal drugs. Prohibition caused these actions..
Other Problems
Prohibition denied the state tax revenues from alcohol. This, at the very time it was causing big increases in criminal justice costs.
Widespread crime and other problems caused by Prohibition mushroomed. Hypocrisy was rampant.
II. Repeal
Prohibition was repealed nationally in 1933. Yet states were able to their own prohibition. Tennessee decided to keep its own.
Yet more and more residents decided that it was a dismal failure. It didn’t stop drinking. On the other hand, it created great problems. They decided that the presumed cure was much worse than the disease. So they called for repeal. The state repealed its own prohibition in 1937.
Yet temperance sentiment still endures in neo-prohibitionism. For example, the state still prohibits the Sunday sale of spirits (liquor). This is despite the fact that Sunday is the second busiest shopping day of the week.
III. Resources
Web
- TN Alcohol Laws. Do you really know them?
- Repeal of Proh.
Readings
- Beard, M. The W.C.T.U. in the Volunteer State.
- Isaac, P. Prohib and Politics in TN.
- Lacy, E. TN teetotalism. Social forces and the politics of progressivism. Tenn Hist Q, 24(3), 219-240.
- Modey, Y. The Struggle over Prohib in Memphis, 1880-1930.
- Pulliam, W. Harriman, the Town that Temp Built.
- TN State Lib. Arch. Temp Movement in TN.
- Wolfe, M. Bootleggers, drummers, and national defense. Sideshow to reform in TN, 1915-1920. East Tenn Hist Soc, 49, 77-91.