Prohibition, laws focused on preventing the consumption of alcoholic beverages, was the goal for those who believed alcohol damaged health, morality, and led to poverty. The "drys", Prohibition supporters, would in the end lose the battle for prohibition with the adoption of the Twenty-first amendment. The thirteen years, from 1920 to 1933, that our country suffered through prohibition did not stop all drinking but it did decline(Kyvig 814). The problem with prohibition was that a large minority of citizens continued to drink, so many that the laws were almost impossible to enforce. Prohibition led to large scale breaking of the law and contributed to organized crime.
When North America was beginning to be colonized there were many reasons for alcohol to be consumed. Water sources were sometimes unsafe and could even be fatal. Whiskey was also used to ward off the extreme temperatures in the winter, not to mention the flavor the alcohol added zest to the boredom of eating the same greasy foods daily. With the steady supply of sugar cane from the West Indies and the grain that was grown in the field out back, accessing liquor was easy to come by. Alcohol was prominent at any celebration, public or private, and especially during our independence day("Prohibition: The 18th Amendment and how it Changed our Nation" http://www.brunslo.com ). At the beginning of the nineteenth century alcohol had become an important part of American life. In fact Americans were drinking about seven gallons of pure alcohol annually. That is equal to about seventy gallons of beer("Prohibition in America" http://www.americanhistory.about.com ). By the mid 1800's, alcohol was not as popular because of the growing industrious economy. The Protestant churches believed that alcoholics lost their souls to liquor started the temperance movement. Many temperance groups urged complete abstinence, which is somewhat deceptive because the definition of temperance is to drink moderately("Prohibition: The 18th Amendment and how it Changed our Nation" http://www.
