The Purpose and Power Behind the Prohibition

Roberta Lam Senior Division Individual Website

In the late weeks of October, my Advanced Placement U.S. History Class was concluding the American Revolution unit. We concluded that the American Revolution was a revolution regarding its overthrow of the British government. However, the concept of a revolution is also classified as a dramatic change in a system or ideas. This led me to think of the Prohibition movement, not only was it a revolution through reform efforts, but it left a lasting legacy that helped shape modern America. I had borrowed four books that were key secondary sources for the formation of my project. These books had information on the early beginning of Prohibition. It had insight to the moral and criminal conditions of American society in the 1800-1900s and how the reformers blamed it on the addiction of the day, alcohol. Another helpful secondary source was the compilation of political cartoons, documents, and quotes of the Prohibition Era compiled on a website by David Staley. Shifting through various archives, I had discovered my central primary source, Guy Hayler. He served as the President of the World Prohibition Federation for thirty years. He composed credible books and publications regarding alcohol prohibition; his most important work being The Prohibition Movement: Papers and Proceedings of the National Convention for the Prohibition. It provided insight into the motives of the Prohibition and the names of the prominent reformers. The political cartoons of the American Issue were helpful in showing the use of propaganda to influence the public. I chose to display my research through a website because I have experience in website construction. In my website, I have included the rise of the Prohibition, its fight for ratification, and the fall of the movement. I addressed the enforcement of the Amendment and the organized crime that flourished and marred American society.

Influential cartoons of the day, media clips, and files convey the serious political issue the Prohibition became. I then presented my conclusion of the gains and losses of the political movement that ruptured America. The Prohibition was a complex reform that encompassed political, moral, and social change. It was a revolution because it proposed the prohibition of alcohol, a radical shift in society. The reform evolved into a political revolution. The national government imposed a law to regulate the morals of its citizens and social behavior, which invoked a strong force of opposition. It had divided Americans into the wets and the dry. The Prohibition had also unintentionally stimulated the growth of crime that forever shaped the course of American history. In 1919, America had embarked on its boldest attempt at moral and social reform and was willing to try, what President Herbert Hoover coined, the Noble Experiment.