Alcohol temperance movement

A pioneer leader for women s rights, Susan B. Anthony became one of the leading women reformers of the nineteenth century. In Rochester, New York, she began her first public crusade on behalf of temperance. The temperance movement dealt with the abuses of women and children who suffered from alcoholic husbands. Also, she worked tirelessly against slavery and for women s rights. Anthony helped write the history of woman suffrage. 

To be clear, the CCLE is not suggesting that cigarettes or alcohol should be prohibited. Alcohol prohibition was a failure in all respects, again confirming that drug prohibition produces a net harm for individuals and society. See, Gusfield, Symboiic Crusade Status Poiitics and the American Temperance Movement 1986, 2nd ed.) University of Illinois Press. Thornton, Mark. (1991). Alcohol Prohibition was a Failure. Cato Policy Analysis, No. 157 http //www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.htmi... 

Temperance movements began to spring up in America largely supported by religious groups. By the eighteenth century the American Temperance Society promoted the concept of total abstinence from alcohol. In 1919 laws prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol nationwide were enacted, but these laws were repealed in 1933 by the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution. 

Narcotics were, of course, not the only drugs of concern during the immediate post World War I era. If the use of narcotics could not be justified, then how could that of alcohol The temperance movement, which had been active for years, now succeeded in having the use and distribution of alcohol banned. The Eighteenth Amendment... 

The strength of the temperance movement in overcoming economic realities of the day is illustrated by the effect the Eightieth Amendment had on the collection of fees by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In 1916, gross receipts at the IRS were 513 million, of which 241 million were derived from distilled spirits and fermented liquors. Thus, 47 percent of IRS receipts were from alcohol-related income versus 13 percent from personal income tax. The movement s fervor also affected the medical profession. With the cynical belief that physicians would discharge their responsibilities under prohibition no better than they had under the Harrison Act, new legislation was created. The specific law, the Willis-Campbell Act of 1921, was enacted in order to restrict the number of liquor prescriptions permitted by each physician. 

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