Temperance

The temperance movement in the United States has been around since the mid-1800's. The people promoting it were concerned primarily with the crime and violence that excessive intoxication brings. The Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified in 1919, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, transportation or importation of “intoxicating liquors.” It was a difficult law to enforce. The harder it was for people to get booze, the more they seemed to want it, and the more bootleggers were willing to risk to get it to them. Organized crime made a big profit, and their escalating turf wars actually increased violence in many cities. Prohibition was repealed on December 5, 1933 with the 21st Amendment. Many people today point to the “Noble Experiment” as a grand failure. But it did engender a sort of social reform. Americans do still drink. But drinking to excess is not accepted or tolerated the way it used to be. We have one of the world’s lowest drinking rates, and 37 percent of us don’t drink at all.