Birth of a Policy:Prohibition (the enactment of the 18th

amendment)

By: Katie Bryan

History*

• 1907 - 1948 in Prince Edward Island • 1914 - 1925 in Russia and the Soviet Union• 1915 - 1922 in Iceland • 1916 - 1927 in Norway • 1919 in Hungary • 1919 - 1932 in Finland • 1920 - 1933 in the United States

* Other countries that also enacted prohibition

Timeline

• 1840’s: Movement begins

• 1850’s: Maine bans sale of liquor

• 1861 - 1865: Civil War

• 1869 - 1880: Movement gains speed

• 1881: Kansas outlaws alcoholic beverages

• 1874 - 1893: Formation of prohibition groups

Public Sentiment

• Saloon culture

• WWI

• Domestic violence

• Crime and morality

• Worker safety and

increased production

Public Sentiment

• In 1830, the average American consumed 1.7 bottles of hard liquor per week, three times the amount consumed in 2010

Special Interest Groups

• Protestant churches

• The Women's Christian Temperance Union

• The Prohibition Party

• The Anti-Saloon League

• Tea merchants and soda fountain manufacturers

• Kansas and Maine

• New York City – labor activists

Legal Precedent

• Mugler v. Kansas, 1887

• Crowley v. Christensen, 1890

Who took it up as their pet cause?

• Carrie Nation

• Reverend Mark A. Matthews and Minister Billy Sunday

Communications Efforts

• Scolding customers

• Destroying bottles of liquor

• Entering saloons, singing, praying, and urging

saloon keepers to stop selling alcohol

• Filing court cases

• Pushing legislation

Political Involvement

• Supporters – Maine– Kansas

• Neutral– Woodrow Wilson– Charles Evans Hughes

The Opposing Side

• German-Americans

• Liturgical Protestants

• Roman Catholics

• Labor Unions

• Brewing Industry

Amending the Constitution

• January 1917

• December 1917 – both houses pass the amendment

Dry Wet

Democrat 140 64

Republican 138 62

A Policy is Born

• January 16, 1919 • 18th amendment ratified

by 36 of 48 states

A Policy is Born

prohibited the "...manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States..."

Thank You!

• "Volstead Act" on October 28, 1919

• 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933