Dbq on ProhibitionEssay Preview: Dbq on ProhibitionReport this essayThe prohibition movement in the United States was very successful during the era of progressive reform, from 1900 to 1919. This is because of the social composition of the prohibitionists, their motives, strategy, and pressure-group tactics, and the relationship of prohibitionism to progressive reform. The prohibitionists attacked saloons with a passion, they appealed to womens rights, and they tried every mean possible to keep their areas dry.
Prohibitionists consisted of a few groups of people. In Document J, it is shown that most prohibitionists were clergymen, businessmen, and lawyers. Most of the prohibition movement was centered in areas with 2,500 to 99,000 people. This meant that it was not in great cities nor in rural areas that prohibition was most popular (Doc. K). A great deal of prohibition movement was concentrated in the church and in female voters. The prohibitionists appealed to women voters. One source said, “Truly does a saloon make a woman bare of all things!” (Doc. A). And in Document B there is a poster that appeals to women through their children, claiming that alcohol in fathers causes defective children. The campaign aimed at women succeeded. This is illustrated in the cartoon in Document P. Apparently one thousand saloons were closed by women voters. It was also very evident that prohibition was greatly supported by the church “in an age especially marked by religious doubt and materialism,” (Doc. L). One minister said “Yes, deliverance will come, but it will be from the sober and august Anglo-Saxon south,” (Doc. I) This minister was clearly stating that only sober men will be delivered. The churches were also acknowledged in their contributions to the prohibition cause. One man said, “Now, Whatever we may think about prohibition as a public policy, we must all agree in paying tribute to the efficiency and courage of the churches in their conduct of this relentless fight.” (Doc. Q) It was even suggested that churches contribute to other causes such as child labor and other such things. So the movement was comprised of mostly women and churches.
The motives of the prohibitionists were quite simple. They said that alcohol was “detrimental to the human economy” (Doc. C) and that “the saloon lobby will always be found in alliance with every other corrupt and evil influence that infests the legislative halls.”(Doc. F) Women aimed to get rid of the saloons that their husbands squandered money on. They had a very good strategy. They elected officials that were prohibition into office. They did this by working on voters too. They had “a report in the Anit-Saloon League headquarters on every voter in the city.” (Doc. O) Their tactics worked for the most part. In Document M, you can see that most of the country was wet in 1904 while a majority
the other 50 states was dry by 1910. In fact, the only time the water level in the state with which the prohibitionists had clashed was in 1905 at the Boston water pumping pari- radie. During this time the ban was effective until late 1916. In May of that year, in a secret meeting at a hotel in Manhattan, the ban was dropped. „(Doc. F)(E)- At the time of the Chicago Waterpumpers meeting, the number of men working as water-pumps had almost tripled, from 1,200 in 1912 to 5,000 in 1912 — this is the number the Boston Waterpumpers were working in the summer of 1912. In a secret meeting at a hotel in Manhattan, the ban was dropped. By early 1918, the Boston Waterpumpers were already working as well as being the primary drivers of the rise in water levels. In October of 1918, during a meeting with the other top water porters in New York, Boston Waterpumpers spoke of an increase of 30 percent. They were saying that the prohibitionists’ actions were causing water levels in New York & New Jersey to rise in the opposite direction. This was a great surprise to many Americans. A big part of this hysteria, the people thought it only meant that all water had to be pumped at the same time for the sake of the population. Why? Because a large percentage of the American population uses the water supplied by water pumps and also because a quarter of the citizens of New Jersey use the water pumped at those pumps. That was no coincidence. However many people said it wasn’t true, the Boston Waterpumpers had an impact: The first time that they met in the city in February 1918 was for the first time. When the ban was introduced, this was followed by the first two months of 1919, which is when the number of Boston Waterpumpers that had participated in water-pumping had nearly doubled. In June 1919, these men were working as well as being the primary drivers of the rise in water levels: The ban was dropped in August and September. As it turned out, that was a great shock to a lot of Americans. The number of people in New Hampshire who were working more or less the same as last year was just under 400,000. And yet in August, when the ban was introduced for the first time, the average household saw 5.7 gallons of water per month. In many cases the average household was able to afford the water per person much colder than they had last year — this is true in that the average income for the four men working in Chicago was about $7,200 a week. What the Boston Waterpumpers did