Assignment

Assignment

Assignment

As with many historical events, historians debate along different lines regarding what inspired the national Prohibition in the 19th century. This is clearly reflected in the four given passages as they all give different emphasis and credit to the effect of the different prohibition pressure groups. While A emphasises mainly about religious campaigns and the role of big business, B provides progressive arguments. C pulls together several factors such as immigration; wolrd war one, WASP traditions and the ASL and D considers the role of women. While they all suggest different driving forces none of the sources argue against the moral and religious argument however they put a different degree of priority on it. Religion was undeniably the core of the movement however it is unlikely that it would have achieved more than local dry laws without other significant pressure groups such as the ASL or the historical context of the First World War.

In 1919, after the First World War, a national ban on the sale, transportation and manufacture of alcohol was introduced through the Volstead act. The process to lead to this outcome was a long and complex one. It can be traced back to Protestant religious idealism in the early 19th century where most churches regarded drunkenness as a sin and firstly called for moderation but later for complete abstinence. Especially passage A stresses the significance of religion when stating that 'the greatest single force in the temperance movement was the power of the evangelic Protestantism'. Enthusiastic religious members felt it was their 'earthly mission' to save the souls that were lost to the sin of alcohol. Also passage C mentions the 'large Protestant native-born population' thrusting 'prohibition upon urban, industrial America' which again implies the churches force and intendment.

The significance of religious idealism on the prohibition movement can hardly be challenged by the significance of WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) America or the WCTU (Women's Christian Temperance Union) as their arguments are a broadening of the core ideas of the religious aspects. The WASP culture meant anti urbanisation, anti immigrant and social conservatism and therefore fitted very well to the rural ideas of the churches. Krout raises this WASP concern by mentioning the increasing 'constant infiltration of foreigners in to the United States of America' and also B states that immigration 'led to the phenomenon of too many saloons chasing too few drinkers'. As a matter o fact a connection between immigration and drinking can be identified then as many foreigners came with their own relationship of alcohol which often meant increased consumption of liquors. Also many immigrants got disappointed by their new life in America since it was not what they had expected which made many turn to alcohol to escape reality. C takes the idea further when saying that the rural population trusted prohibition 'upon urban America, with its heterogeneity of races, religions and foreign backgrounds' in order to diminish these new influences which disturbed the WASP ...