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Last Call: The Rise And Fall Of Prohibition By Daniel Okrent

1374 Words6 Pages

“If a family or a nation is sober, nature in its normal course will cause them to rise to a higher civilization. If a family or nation is debauched by liquor, it must decline and ultimately perish.” -Richmond P. Hobson, in the U.S. House of Representatives, December 22, 1914 The first two chapters of “Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition” provide the readers with an overview of the historical, political, and cultural factors that set in stone the prohibition movement in America. Okrent fills his book with complexities and contingencies to help his readers better grasp the concept. The origins of the movement started in the early 19th century, but way before that Americans had a major drinking problem. It was because of economic and social …show more content…

The temperance movement gained momentum during that period quickly, which in turn, put increasing pressure on the alcohol industry. Breweries, distilleries, and saloons faced economic challenges as temperance advocates campaigned for stricter regulations or a total prohibition of alcohol consumption. Due to this, the threat of prohibition loomed over these businesses, leading to uncertainty and financial instability. As prohibition laws started to solidify, many businesses were forced to shut down or scale back operations. Many shops that were once thriving financially now faced declining sales and revenue, and some owners and workers experienced job losses as establishments closed down due to the regulations. Shifts in consumer preferences occurred as well, while some people embraced the idea of temperance and chose to stray away from alcohol altogether, others just slightly reduced their drinking habits and shifted towards other alternatives. These changing consumer ideals further strained the profitability of businesses in the alcohol industry, contributing to economic downfalls and closures. At first, the public agreed with the movement of temperance, but as it started to fall into stone, parts of society began to rally against it since they believed it went against their rights as citizens. For example, in Portland, an angry crowd broke out in 1855 of Irish immigrants who didn't like Neal Dow and one of the prohibition laws he helped move. An angry crowd of three thousand went on a riot, and when military men went to calm the riot, one man was left killed and seven wounded. Change Over Time- Okrent explains the change over time of prohibition by exploring the social, political, and cultural factors. Okretn shows how the

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By 1932, Americans had reversed the approval and disapproval making the disapproval rating had gone higher. Americans disapproved the prohibition because the criminality and murder went up, business’ were going down and it was impossible to enforce no alcohol. The rate of criminals went up leading to more murders when the Prohibition was enforced. Many criminals such as gangsters, racketeers, bootleggers, and dope sellers got “helped” out by prohibition. Especially in the Great Depression, were alcohol was even more wanted.

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On January 16th of 1919, the American congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment, making all importing, exporting, transporting, selling, and manufacturing of alcohol illegal. It was not until 1920 that the Amendment was enforced. During the era of progressive reform, 1900-1919 it took much convincing to get congress to pass the Amendment. You have a majority of the population against prohibition because saloons were a social hangout for them where they hosted parties, weddings, etc. Then you have the rest of the population for prohibition because of economic, religious, and health reasons.

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For example, people’s salary was spent on alcohol, led to physical abuse, sickness, and the hatred effects of drinking on families. Alcohol consumption would hurt workers’ efficiency, which some employers believed would happen. There were this movement which advocated the moderation or elimination of alcohol that were emerging from concerns it was called, “The Temperance Movement.” This movement were mainly led by women where two groups were created one in the year 1874 while the other in the year 1893 there names were the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League. This movement was supposed to only work out to cut alcohol consumption, but was later pressed for prohibition laws banning the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcohol.

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The country was trying to control America’s alcohol problems by law. The ban on alcohol worsened America’s alcohol problem, in fact, it did quite the opposite of its intention. All caused by prohibition, America had an increased crime rate, death rate, and to top it off, America was losing slathers of money.

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