Alcohol and Drinking History in America: A Chronology
Promising Future for National Prohibition
1913.
- The Webb-Kenyon Act was passed banning shipment of alcohol beverages into a state if the law of that state prohibited it. If effect, this prohibited shipping or importing alcohol into a state with statewide prohibition.1
- “The Sixteenth Amendment, creating the legal authority for federal income tax, is enacted. Between 1870 and 1915, the tax on liquor provides from one-half to two-thirds of the whole of the internal revenue of the United States, amounting, after the turn of the century, to about $200 million annually. The Sixteenth Amendment thus makes possible, just seven years later, the Eighteenth Amendment”2 by reducing dependence on the taxes from alcoholic beverages.
- Purley Baker, head of the Anti-Saloon League, led a parade of the League down Pennsylvania Avenue to the steps of the U.S. Capitol where he presented copies of a proposed Eighteenth Amendment to bring about National Prohibition to two dry congressmen.3
- Over half the population of the country lived in areas in which prohibition laws existed. 4
1914.
- There were as many as 1,400 breweries in the country employing over 75,000 people.5
- There were over 13,000 drinking establishments in New York City.6
- Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, Washington State and West Virginia 7 adopted statewide prohibition.8
- By 1914, 33 states in the U.S. had adopted statewide prohibition.9
- The Prohibition movement reflected a cultural war in the country. For example, in arguing in favor of Prohibition, Congressman Richard Hobson of Alabama asserted that
"Liquor will actually make a brute out of a Negro, causing him to commit unnatural crimes. The effect is the same on the white man, though the white man being further evolved it takes longer time to reduce him to the same level." 10
- William Hamilton Anderson, one of the most successful lobbyists of the Anti-Saloon League, arrived in New York to make the state and city dry. Using local option, his strategy was to begin with rural areas and work toward the larger population center. The “Dry Warrior” pledged to punish anyone who stood in the way of his agenda and he effectively used such tactics as false rumors, forged documents, character attacks, and intimidation to achieve his goal.11
- A temperance organization called the Flying Squadron of America mounted a nationwide campaign promoting temperance. Three groups of speakers presented revival-like programs in cities across the U.S. in 1914 and June 1915.12
So many people were convinced that alcohol was the cause of virtually all crime that, as the implementation of National Prohibition approached, some towns in the U.S. actually sold their jails.13
1915.
- The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), often called the Klan of the 1920s, was "revived in Atlanta in 1915 to defend Prohibition," which existed in Georgia at that time.14
- Defending Prohibition was a cornerstone of its “reform” agenda. An historian has observed that “support for Prohibition represented the single most important bond between Klansmen throughout the nation.” Another scholar wrote that “enforcement of Prohibition, in fact, was a central, and perhaps the strongest, goal of the Ku Klux Klan.”15 For more about the anti-alcohol nature of the KKK visit The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Alcohol, & Prohibition.
- Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, and South Carolina adopt statewide prohibition.16
1916.
- Colorado, Idaho,17 Iowa,18 Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Washington19 adopted statewide prohibition.20
- “The Prohibition Party elected Sidney Catts governor of Florida in 1916.”21
- The Pharmacopoeia of the United States dropped whiskey and brandy from its list of useful drugs.22
1917.
- Senator Morris Sheppard introduced the Eighteenth Amendment.23 Great effort was made to get it acted on before 1920, because in 1920 there was going to be a new census and when the census changed, the cities, which were the wet part of the country, were going to have more representation in Congress and the small towns were going to have less representation in Congress.24
- The Lever Food and Fuel Act made it illegal to distill beverage alcohol in order to preserve food supplies during WW I.25
- It became illegal to sell alcohol to members of the military forces.26
- Indiana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Utah adopted statewide prohibition.27
- The president of the American Medical Association (AMA) endorsed Prohibition and the House of Delegates of the Association passed a resolution opposing the use of alcoholic beverages and discouraging the use of alcohol therapeutically.28
1918.
- The War Time Prohibition Act was passed to save grain and other materials for the war effort in W.W.I. 29
- Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, and Wyoming adopted statewide prohibition.30
- The specific dates, arranged chronologically, on which different states ratified the Eighteenth Amendment during the year were:
- January 8, Mississippi
- January 11, Virginia
- January 14, Kentucky
- January 28, North Dakota
- January 29, South Carolina
- February 13, Maryland
- February 19, Montana
- March 4, Texas
- March 18, Delaware
- March 20, South Dakota
- April 2, Massachusetts
- May 24, Arizona
- June 26, Georgia
- August 9, Louisiana
- November 27, Florida,31
- The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment was established in an unsuccessful effort to prevent National Prohibition. However, it grew dramatically in membership after Prohibition was implemented and its unintended effects became obvious.32
- The Anti-Saloon League called the alcoholic beverage industry "un-American," pro-German, crime-producing, food-wasting, youth-corrupting, home-wrecking, [and] treasonable."33
1919.
- Ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment occurred quickly. “On January 7, Ohio and Oklahoma ratified; the next day, Idaho and Maine; the following day, West Virginia. After a weekend lull, fifteen more states approved the dry amendment in the span of four days, including states that had only recently shifted into the dry camp. On the afternoon of January 16, 1919, Nebraska became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment, giving it the three-fourths majority needed for enactment.”34 It went into effect one year later and banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States and its possessions. Contrary to common belief, it did not prohibit the purchase or consumption of alcohol.35
- The specific dates, arranged chronologically, on which different states ratified the Eighteenth Amendment during the year were:
- January 2, Michigan
- January 7, Ohio
- January 7, Oklahoma,
- January 8, Idaho
- January 8, Maine
- January 9, West Virginia
- January 13, California,
- January 13, Tennessee,
- January 13, Washington,
- January 14, Arkansas,
- January 14, Kansas,
- January 14, Illinois,
- January 14, Indiana,
- January 15, Alabama
- January 15, Colorado,
- January 15, Iowa,
- January 15, New Hampshire,
- January 15, Oregon,
- January 16, Nebraska,
- January 16, North Carolina,
- January 16, Utah,
- January 16, Missouri,
- January 16, Wyoming,
- January 17, Minnesota,
- January 17, Wisconsin,
- January 20, New Mexico,
- January 21, Nevada,
- January 29, New York,
- January 29, Vermont,
- February 25, Pennsylvania,
- May 6, Connecticut,*
- Three states did not ratify the Eighteenth Amendment (Illinois, Indiana, and Rhode Island). New Jersey ratified it two years after National Prohibition went into effect.36 Alaska and Hawaii were not yet states.
- The National Prohibition Act of 1919 was enabling legislation for the implementation of the Eighteenth Amendment. It is commonly called the Volstead Act after Congressman Andrew J. Volsteadwho chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and who sponsored the legislation.37
- The Volstead Act was vetoed on October 28 by President Woodrow Wilson, who cited both moral and constitutional objections. However, Congress overrode his veto the same day.38
- The World League Against Alcoholism was established by the Anti-Saloon League. The goal of the World League was to create prohibition throughout the entire world.39 The fact that the League was against alcoholism rather than alcohol reflected the fact that temperance activists tended to view any consumption of alcohol to be equivalent to alcoholism.
- The Central Trades and Labor Council of New York threatened a general strike unless beer was exempted from impending Prohibition legislation. About 500,000 union workers endorsed the idea, which was squelched by Samuel Gompers only with great difficulty.40
Resources
- 1. Webb-Kenyon Act. https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/Webb-Kenyon-Act.html.
- 2. Alcohol Prohibition Timeline. AAA Native American Arts website. aaanativearts.com/native-american-law/1562-alcohol-prohibition-timeline.html#axzz2gWvVLQjC
- 3. Cashman, Sean D. Prohibition: the Lie of the Land. NY: Free Press and London: Collier Macmillan, 1981; Chalfant, Harry M. These Agitators and Their Ideas. Nashville, TN: Cokesbury Press, 1931; Kobler, John. Ardent Spirits: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition. NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1973.
- 4. Cherrington, Ernest H. The Evolution of Prohibition In The United States of America. Westerville, Ohio: American Issue Press, 1920, p. 320.
- 5. Nachel, Marty. Beer for Dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Books worldwide, 1996, p. 302.
- 6. Lerner, Michael A. Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007, p. 14.
- 7. National Prohibition and Repeal: West Virginia’s Experience. https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/20081125102126.html
- 8. Hill, Jeff. Defining Moments: Prohibition. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics, 2004, p. xxi.
- 9. Brook, S. The Wines of California. London: Faber and Faber, 1999.
- 10. Sinclair, Andrew. Prohibition: The Era of Excess. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1962, p. 31.
- 11. Anderson, C.H.C. Martyred for Prohibition: Some Truths about Wm. H. Anderson (now in Sing Sing), Dauntless Prohibition Leader for 24 Years. Dallas, TX: C.H.C. Anderson, 1924; Plan new fight for local option; Anti-Saloon League official outlines legislative crusade to be waged here. New York Times, January 2, 1914; Ossian, Lisa. Anderson, William Hamilton. In: Blocker, Jack S., et al. (eds.). Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: an International Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2003, pp. 41-42.
- 12. Indiana State Library: Flying Squadron (statelib.lib.in.us/www/isl/indiana/prohibition.html+%22Flying+Squadron%22+prohibition&hl=en); Kobler, John. Ardent Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1973.
- 13. Anti-Saloon League of America. Anti-Saloon League of America Yearbook. Westerville, Ohio: American Issue Press, 1920, p. 8. Cited by Mulford, Harold A. Alcohol and Alcoholism in Iowa, 1965. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa, 1965, p. 9.
- 14. Statement from Chancellor Brehm on Benton Mural. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University press release, March 25, 2002. Also see Lay, Shawn. Hooded Knights on the Niagara: The Ku Klux Klan in Buffalo, New York. New York: New York University Press, 1995; Kleinegger, Christine. Women in the Ku Klux Klan: Constitution and Bylaws; Outline of Principles and Teachings. Albany, New York: New York State Museum. The University of the State of New York, n.d.; Norberg, David. Ku Klux Klan in the Valley: A 1920s Phenomenon. White River Journal, January, 2004;Tucker, Richard K. The Dragon and the Cross: The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in Middle America. Hamden, CT: Archon, 1991, p. 111; Feldman, Glenn. Politics, Society, and the Klan in Alabama, 1915-1949. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1999; Moore, Leonard J. Citizen Klansmen: The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, 1921-1928. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
- 15. Chalmers, David M. Hooded Americans: the History of the Ku Klux Klan. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991.
- 16. Hill, Jeff. Defining Moments: Prohibition. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics, 2004, p. xxii.
- 17. National Prohibition and Repeal in Idaho. https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/20081119160102.html
- 18. Iowa and Prohibition: Good Intentions Turn to Toxic Brew. https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/20081125103213.html
- 19. Washington State Found National Prohibition to be Disastrous and Called for Repeal. https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/20081119164524.html
- 20. Coloradans Repeal Prohibition after First Supporting It; https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/20081119153330.html Hill, Jeff. Defining Moments: Prohibition. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics, 2004, p. xxii.
- 21. Prohibition Party History. Prohibition Party website. prohibitionists.org/History/history.html
- 22. Alcohol Prohibition Timeline. AAA Native American Arts website. aaanativearts.com/native-american-law/1562-alcohol-prohibition-timeline.html#axzz2gWvVLQjC
- 23. Sheppard, John Morris. Texas State Historical Association website. tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsh24
- 24. Okrent, Daniel. Cited by Burns, Ken in Prohibition. PBS site. pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/people/#detail=S0045
- 25. Regan, Gary and Regan, Mardee Maidin. The Book of Bourbon and other Fine American Whiskeys. Shelburn, VT: Firefly Books, 1995, chapter 1 reprinted on Distilled Spirits Council website. discus.org/heritage/spirits/#23
- 26. Kobler, John. Ardent Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1973, p. 19.
- 27. Hill, Jeff. Defining Moments: Prohibition. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics, 2004, p. xxii.
- 28. Sinclair, Andrew. Prohibition: The Era of Excess. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1962, p. 61.
- 29. Kelly, Martin. Prohibition Era Timeline. American History website. about.com/od/prohibitionera/a/prohibition.htm
- 30. Hill, Jeff. Defining Moments: Prohibition. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics, 2004, p. xxii.
- 31. The Eighteenth Amendment. https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/The-Eighteenth-Amendment.html
- 32. Stayton, William H. Have We Prohibition or only Prohibition laws? North American Review, June, 1925, 221, 591-59; Stayton, William H. The official view of the Anti-Prohibition Association, Current History, April, 1928, 4-9. Stayton was referring to the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment; Stayton, William H. A Message for Opponents of Prohibition. (pamphlet) Washington, DC: Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, 1925.
- 33. Sinclair, Andrew. Prohibition: The Era of Excess. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1962, p. 121.
- 34. Lerner, Michael A. Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007, p. 11.
- 35. The Eighteenth Amendment. https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/The-Eighteenth-Amendment.html)
- 36. Ratification of Constitutional Amendments. U.S. Constitution website. usconstitution.net/constamrat.html
- 37. The Volstead Act. https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/Volstead-Act.html
- 38. TheEighteenth Amendment. https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/The-Eighteenth-Amendment.html
- 39. Heavenward Ho! Time, July 28, 1924; Anti-Saloon League: World League Against Alcoholism (westervillelibrary.org/AntiSaloon/resources/world_league_against_alcoholism.html
- +%22World+League+Against+Alcoholism%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1).
- 40. Rose, Kenneth D. American Women and the Repeal of Prohibition. New York: New York University Press, 1996, p. 58.
- * There is confusion regarding the date and status of Connecticut's ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment. The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress reported on page 1 of The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation. 2008 Supplement that "Although some sources (including the main volume of this book) state that Connecticut ratified the 18th Amendment on May 6, 1919 (after the date that three-fourths of the states had ratified it, and after the Acting Secretary of State, on January 28, 1919, had certified that the 18th Amendment had become valid; see 40 Stat. 1941-42 (1919), the Journal of the Senate of the State of Connecticut, January Session, 1919, reported on May 6, 1919, at page 1191: “The committee of Conference, to whom was referred a resolution [Senate Joint Resolution No. 56] ratifying an Amendment to the Constitution concerning the Manufacture, Sale and Transportation of Intoxicating Liquors, reported that they had the same under consideration and cannot agree . . . .”; The New York Times (February 5, 1919) reported that, on February 4, 1919, the Connecticut Senate voted against ratification by a vote of 20 to 14. A week later (February 12, 1919), the same newspaper reported that, on February 11, 1919, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted in favor of ratification by a vote of 153 to 96.)
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