Preview

How Successful Was The Progressive Movement In The 1920's

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
814 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Successful Was The Progressive Movement In The 1920's
Between the 1890s and World War One, reform efforts started taking place by the progressives. The progressives were not a single unified group and even had some contradicting goals. They were middle class urban dwellers and some were women. The progressives wanted to end prostitution, Americanize immigrants, antitrust legislation created, women’s suffrage, and the start of prohibition. An example of a group of progressive women who wanted to start prohibition is The Women’s Christian Temperance Union. This group was lead by Francis Willard. The goals of the Women’s Christian Temperance union were to lobby for federal aid for education, free school lunches, unions for workers, an eight-hour workday, work relief for the poor, municipal sanitation and boards of health, national transportation, strong anti-rape laws, protections against child abuse and of course prohibition. The root of Willard's argument for female suffrage was based on the platform of "Home Protection", which Willard described as "the movement...the object of which is to secure for all women above the age of twenty-one years the ballot as one means for the protection of their homes from the devastation caused by the legalized traffic in strong drink."[1] These "devastations" were the violent acts against women committed by …show more content…
It has never been enforced in this country."[8] The end of prohibition came in 1932 by the 21st amendment. The people who had supported Prohibition had changed their minds. They realized that the evils of alcohol remained, but they had also realized the effects of Prohibition to be far-reaching and perhaps worse than alcohol itself. According to famous tycoon John D. Rockefeller, "Drinking has generally increased, the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has been recruited and financed on a colossal

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In 1919, just shortly after the conclusion of the first World War, the United States government ratified the 18th amendment, which finally brought Prohibition into play. This exiled the sale, consumption, and distribution of alcoholic beverages. This came during a time when America was in a period of transition, if you will. The Allied forces had just taken down the likes of the Central Powers, bringing peace into civilization once more. A hard-fought victory led the U.S. to believe that there was a time of some relaxation coming, but they were far from that. The passing of Prohibition only meant that there was another battle to be fought, and it was going to be amongst themselves.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    U.S. History Chapter 18 Progressivism on the National Stage Outline I. Introduction A. Theodore Roosevelt and Northern Securities Company II. Three Progressive Presidents A. Theodore Roosevelt Promises a Square Deal 1. Square Deal B. Taft Continues Reforms 1. Payne-Aldrich Bill C. The Election Of 1912 1.…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Losing money, government scandal, and an increased homicide rate are all negative outcomes of the Prohibition. Finally, after 14 years of this new law, the U.S. government decided, for the first time in history, to repeal an Amendment. On December 5th, 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, which officially repealed the 18th Amendment and allowed for the alcohol trade to start up again. This finally lead to an end to one of the most destructive laws in American…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Traveling across the country delivering speeches, creating petition efforts against legislation, joining forces with other political and social reform groups merely proved Willard’s dedication to reform and gained her the recognition and support, which she needed, from the public. Frances Willard worked with Prohibition Party, giving speeches and conveying their agreed message on the abuses of alcohol and its effect on society. In Willard’s address before second biennial convention of the World’s Women’s Christian Temperance Union, she makes a reference to the history of the…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The government did not take kindly to the actions of the IWW and arrested,tar and feathered, and lyned them. There were also other progressive groups such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti saloon League. These two groups both supported the prohibition of Liquor, they focused on this because they saw drinking as a vice that caused men to waste their money and fight each other. They worked there way from bar to bar to city to city to state to state to get support for their belief. They did not even get half of the public's support and still were effective in their mission and got the 19th Amendment to pass, which outlawed the sell of liquor…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alcohol was thought to be the source of several of the nation’s problems. Issues like domestic violence, unemployment and poverty. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union first introduced the idea of prohibition, the illegalization of the buying, selling or consumption of alcohol. Prohibition was made official in 1919 as Nebraska became the 36th state to ratify the proposal. Prohibition took effect one year later in 1920. In the beginning, prohibition had an overwhelming amount of popularity from most of the country however Americans quickly changed their mind. Prohibition ended in 1933 with the 21st amendment to the Constitution. The increase in crime across the nation, several negative financial aspects of prohibition, and the eventual increase in corruption and loss of national restriction were all factors in the nation’s sudden change of heart.…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation,transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933. Many progressives believed that alcohol was responsible for many household problems such as domestic abuse. The temperance movement which supported the elimination of alcohol emerged from these concerns. Mostly women lead the temperance movement. In 1874 a group of women formed the Womens Christians Temperance Union, which by 1911 WCTU had 250,000 members.…

    • 244 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “I call myself a businessman. I make my money by supplying a popular demand. If I break the law, my customers are as guilty as I am”(May 91). Prohibition was put into place in 1919, and this instantly did not sit well with many Americans. The Eighteenth Amendment made it illegal to “manufacture, sell, or transport liquor on a national level”(Moss 147). This however did not make it illegal to drink alcohol, just to produce or sell it to the consumer. People all over the country just wanted to drink and have fun but in a heartbeat, it was next to impossible to get any type of alcohol. Shortly after the Volstead Act was passed which defined intoxicating liquor as “ a drink that was more than .5 percent alcohol”(Moss 147). With it now illegal to get liquor there was…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    When Americans went dry during the 1920s, they didn’t know how history would be changed. America then changed its mind about Prohibition due to a rise in crime, a lack of law enforcement, and a loss of potential tax revenue.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The drive for prohibition ended after 13 years. The result was a failing experiment that punished Americans. Ultimately Americans rejected the idea of prohibition and also downgraded the government. The impacts drove many people to quit drinking and to stop accosting with alcohol. The impact of the organized crime kept prohibition from taking full affect. The corruption in the United States has not come to a stop even with prohibition not in affect. The United states gained hundreds of thousands of dollars as…

    • 1584 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prohibition was a black eye in the history of the United States. Prohibition started in 1920 and ended in 1933. Prohibition cause more harm than good in the U.S. in the length of time that it was in effect. Prohibition was instituted with ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on January 16, 1919, and went into effect in the 1920’s. Congress passed the "Volstead Act" on October 28, 1919, to enforce the law. Most big cities and most states did not like this, so much so, that they didn’t enforce this law and kept selling, buying, and drinking alcohol; in fact, most of the Police officers and government officials themselves were still consuming, buying, and selling alcohol. So really, what was the point of it? This made many criminals who took advantage of Alcohol being illegal and made huge profits.…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Prohibition Dbq

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Prohibition was forced from January 16th 1920 to December 5 1933 it was a time when all alcohol was completely banned and made illegal in the United States of America.…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In January of 1920, the American government banned the sale and supply of alcohol. The government thought that this would reduce crime and violence. Prohibition did the exact opposite. The crime Jobs were hard to find and…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Failure of Prohibition What made America repeal Prohibition? Prohibition went into effect early 1920 after approval of the Eighteenth Amendment. The Eighteenth Amendment banned the transportation, manufacturing, and sale of alcohol in the United States. Americans believed that the consumption of alcohol was behind a few of America’s issues and some saw it as a drag on the economy.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prohibition In The 1920's

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of liquor known as Prohibition. The result of a widespread temperance movement during the 20th century, Prohibition was difficult to enforce and people would go through extreme lengths just to get their hands on alcohol. The illegal production and sale of liquor, the proliferation of speakeasies, and the rise in gang violence and other crimes went way up. This led to waning support for Prohibition at the end of the 1920’s.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays