Prohibition: Congress voting share on 18th Amendment in the USA 1917

From 1920 until 1933, there was a nationwide, constitutional ban on the production, distribution and sale of alcohol in the United States (consumption, however, was not illegal). After a significant Prohibition movement that had lasted for almost a century, the US government voted on the issue in 1917. The results show that the topic was not a partisan issue, as Republicans and Democrats voted very similarly in the Senate, and almost identically in the House of Representatives (additionally, the candidates in the 1916 Presidential election made no mention of prohibition, to avoid alienating any voters). The topic had split the country for decades, however the impact of the First World War swung the momentum in favor of the 'drys', and Prohibition took effect in 1922.

Alcohol and US politics

Although the sale and consumption of alcohol had been a contentious issue throughout US history, the prohibition movement did not gain notable momentum and political influence (including the formation of a political party) until the nineteenth century. The movement itself was spearheaded by the conservative WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) elite, who believed that alcohol was having an immoral and corrupting influence on American society and politics. They also believed that, at local levels, politicians were undermining the structure and status quo of US society, by frequenting bars and saloons that were popular with migrants, in order to buy their support. This practice had become a US tradition; for two centuries, politicians had been providing alcohol at polling stations on election days in order to maximize voter turnout. One famous example of this was when George Washington spent his entire 1758 election budget of fifty pounds on liquor, which he distributed for free to 391 voters (Washington won with 310 out of 794 votes).

WWI brings change

The Prohibition Party (the US' oldest existing third party) eventually achieved their goal of illegalizing the sale of alcohol during the First World War. The majority of German-Americans were against Prohibition, and the 'drys' used anti-German sentiment during wartime to turn the rest of America against the 'wets', along with the argument that crops would better serve the war effort. The 18th Amendment was ratified in January 1919, and came into effect one year later. Prohibition's legacy is one of crime, violence and death. It opened opportunities for criminals (such as Al Capone) to create international crime empires. In addition to this, those who could not afford bootlegged alcohol often resorted to drinking treated, industrial alcohol, which proved to be fatal for thousands of US citizens (the US government also poisoned industrial alcohol as a preventative measure, contributing to the death toll). Prohibition was originally intended to save lives, but eventually took the lives of thousands through gang warfare and poisoning.