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The Puritanical Foundations of the Prohibition Movement

Clarence Darrow

Prohibitionists considered alcohol to be the source of most of the major problems that plagued society. If drinking were abolished, they believed, crime, sickness, and poverty would disappear with it. They even went as far as hiring a scholar to rewrite the Bible and take all references to alcohol out. But anti-prohibitionists opposed the idea of limiting personal freedom in any way. They believed taking away the public's right to drink what they wanted would make it easier to limit other freedoms.

Defense attorney Clarence Darrow was not much of a drinker—which made him a good spokesman for the "wets"—but he considered Prohibition to be criminal. In his autobiography, The Story of My Life, Darrow regards Prohibition as a serious threat to the American way of life. He attacks the religious members of the Prohibition movement and cites their history of repressing individual liberties. These are the same.....

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