Anti Liquor Movement In The 1920's

At the turn of the nineteenth into the twentieth century, the United States was facing exponential progress in urbanization, industrialization, and even social issues. The movements that took place during this time between the 1890s and 1920s led to it becoming known as the Progressive Era. Advancements such as labor worker rights, child rights, and women rights. Unfortunately, not all changes at this time were positive, such as the anti-liquor movement. According to Alan Brinkley in the textbook, The Unfinished Nation, “The prominence of women in reform movements is one of the most striking features of progressivism” (493). Women started or helped to push settlement houses, Women’s’ Clubs, and most importantly, the women 's’ right to vote.

It frequently appears to be a movement with good intention that ultimately did not hold the test of time; this common assumption is false. One of the man issues with banning alcohol was that it was not solely to stop drunks. According to Thomas Flagel, “There is a xenophobic, anti-foreigner, and anti-Catholic element to [the anti-liquor movement]” (20:49-20:53). There were several organizations who wanted the ban on liquor, most notably, the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. One of the inlying intentions to push the banning of liquor was held by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union who was attempting to enforce Christian, rather than Catholic, values. Furthermore, Brinkley states, “political reformers (correctly) looked on the saloon as one of the central institutions of the urban machine, saw an attack on drinking as part of an attack on the bosses” (503). The liquor industry was beneficial to the economy of our country. Banning sales of alcohol was only taking away from one of the strongest economic staples of our country. The negative causes and effects of the anti-liquor movements are why it was one of the worst movements a person could support during the progressive