Prohibition Flashcards
How were the WCTU and the ASL formed?
The WCTU formed in 1874 led by Frances Willard, the second president after Anthony and Stanton, she partook in a crusade in 1880 to win the right for women to vote so liquor could be banned. By 1890 there were 150,000 members. In 1893 the Anti Saloon League formed and after Willard’s death in 1898, the two groups united in lobbying politicians. By 1913 9 states enacted prohibition laws.
Who was Francis Willard? What was the impact of her work on law?
Willard initially organised the Chicago WCTU and then in 1891 became the president of the World Woman’s Temperance Union.
By 1917 the legislation to nationally prohibit alcohol was passed, and received the required number of legislatures by 1919.
Why did the WCTU gain support?
Nativism rife in the 1920s – immigrants drank heavily; hostility towards Germans owning breweries during WWI, wets failed to gain political support and organise. Movements such as the 1873 Women’s Crusade gained support.
What NY women’s group opposed prohibition?
Many women campaigned against prohibition. The Molly Pitcher Club by M Louise Gross was set up in 1922 to protest prohibition, but the impact was limited. People valued the threat to family life over personal freedom. Conversely, anti-prohibitionists argued that prohibition encouraged violence, with speakeasies established and racketeering with gangland bosses paying off law enforcement.
Outline the WONPR and their connections.
In 1929 the Women’s Organisation for National Prohibition Reform was set up by Pauline Sabin. The organisation was effective in capitalising on those disillusioned by prohibition, and by 1931 had 1.5 million supporters. They received criticism for being upper class but had influence with their husbands part of the all-male Association Against the Prohibition Amendment made in 1918, AAPA. They exerted influence in politics and argued only temperance could protect the home. Doubts were rising from politicians as they lost tax revenue and unlike the WCTU the WONPR was non-partisan.
What was the impact on women from the prohibition campaign?
- Value for protection of the home.
- Showed mass female support for the 18th amendment and its repeal.
- Women failed to be united.
- Nothing done to further rights of women.
How did prohibition end?
In 1933 during the Great Depression, Franklin D Roosevelt issued the 21st Amendment reversing Prohibition, with the Beer Act replacing the Volstead Act. Tax revenue could be gained from legalising alcohol.
What were issues of prohibition?
- President Harding had alcohol delivered to the White House.
- Prohibition agents earned $2500 a year and were easily bribed to look away as alcohol was imported from Canada and Mexico. Chicago was central to illegal distilleries.
- Gangsters such as Al Capone who had committed the Valentines Day Massacre of 1929 to remove Jewish and Irish American rivals was convicted for tax evasion, his bootlegging overlooked.
