Prohibition Rings

It’s the nineteenth century. Most men over the age of 15 are drinking gallons of alcohol each year. Many of them have become unable to function in society. Some of these men have become drunkenly abusive to the women of their lives, who did not yet have the power to defend themselves, or even leave. Moderation when drinking is now on the forefront in many peoples’ minds, and a growing temperance movement begins in churches. Eventually, the movement for temperance becomes a movement for abstinence. In 1913, the beginning of income tax makes it possible for the government to support itself without liquor taxes, and thus the way is paved for the abolition of alcohol sales and manufacture. From 1920 to 1933, the government tries to curb the drinking of the “demonic” alcohol, to no avail. Ultimately, the Volstead Act is repealed and prohibition becomes a failed experiment in social control.