Prohibition: America's War Against Booze Quiz

Answer: temperance movement

The temperance crusade which spanned the whole nineteenth century attempted to get Americans to cut back (be temperate) on alcohol consumption. By the 1890's the emphasis had shifted from moderation concerning alcohol to outright government bans on all alcohol being made, transported, sold, or consumed.

Answer: Eighteenth

The Eighteenth Amendment, nationally launching the war on alcohol, was approved in January of 1919 and took effect in January of 1920. The Seventeenth dealt with the election of Senators. The Nineteenth gave women the right to vote, and the Twenty First repealed the Eighteenth!

Answer: Forbade consumption of it

A person could not make it, sell it, or carry it from one place to another, but if he or she had it, it was alright to drink it! In the year after the Prohibition Amendment was ratified until it took effect, many Americans rushed out and bought hundreds of gallons of alcohol from liquor stores and other alcohol-related businesses that were being forced to close.

Answer: Rural or small town citizens

Rural or small town people were the backbone of the Prohibition movement, with the American South being most supportive. The large cities of the nation vigorously opposed it as one of the silliest moral crusades ever imposed on the people.

Answer: Bathtub gin

Homemade alcohol was not likely to be discovered by Prohibition enforcers, so the bathtub and other household implements were put to use. Demon rum, the Devil's elixir, and John Barleycorn were some of the epithets used by Prohibitionists to describe alcohol.

Answer: Speakeasy

Speakeasys were often located behind legitimate businesses or down dark alleys. A customer knocked on the door, a slit in the door opened, and a voice from inside asked for the password. If he knew it (if he "spoke easy"), the individual walked into a fully functioning bar. Toward the end of Prohibition it was said that if a stranger to the city wanted to find a speakeasy, his best bet was to ask the nearest policeman!

Answer: Al Capone

Capone, from his Chicago base, controlled the alcohol supply in the city as well as prostitution, gambling, and other criminal interests. He was finally sent to prison in the 1930's not for these activities but for failing to file his income taxes. Watch out for the Internal Revenue Service!

Answer: Methodists and Baptists

While there were exceptions in all these groups, Methodists and many Baptists had long called for Prohibition and made non-drinking a test of membership. Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians were far less likely to condemn social drinking even as they condemned drunkenness. Catholic leaders were some of the first to call for Prohibition's repeal.

Answer: Republican Party

The key Republican power base was the Midwest, which was still largely rural and small town oriented. Most notoriously, Warren G. Harding supported Prohibition but privately drank alcohol throughout his Presidency.

Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Roosevelt openly called for repeal in his 1932 campaign, and when he won the Presidency and the Democrats achieved a majority in Congress, Prohibition was doomed. The anti-alcohol amendment was removed from the Constitution, but states could still ban booze within their borders.