Anti-Alcohol Movements and the Jazz Age
Before the Prohibition, gangsters still were around. They mostly participated in prostitution and gambling. They participated in a lot of drinking and partying in the Jazz Age, which was shortly followed by the Prohibition and the Great Depression. Alcohol was perceived as an evil substance and was resented by several groups. An average American over 15 drank nearly 7 gallons of pure alcohol per year, and would abuse their wives and children while drunk. This started the Temperance Movement. The Temperance Movement was the first anti-alcohol movement, and was formed in the 1830s and 1840s. It was created by abolitionists who wanted to destroy slavery, saw alcohol just as evil as slavery, and said this country would "never be cleansed of sin" if we kept using alcohol. The Anti-Saloon League, was an organization that would work with any other group if they could get their point across. They came up with the idea of a Constitutional Amendment that would ban the manufacturing, transportation, and sale of alcohol. Another anti-alcohol union was the Woman's Temperance Union, as many women were tired of their husbands being drunk.