The Women's Temperance Movement and Prohibition

Nineteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: Section 1. The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

The temperance movement, beginning in 1893, was greatly influenced by some women who believed strongly in Prohibition. One such woman was Carrie Nation. She was married to an alcoholic and left him. Believing she was given a vision, she destroyed many saloons with an ax. The prohibition law was passed by Congress in December 1917. Women didn’t have the right to vote for two more years, though many claimed women greatly influenced the prohibition law. Slowly, the nation realized the injustice against women in denying them the right to vote. The Nineteenth Amendment was passed in 1920--too late to vote for the Eighteenth Amendment, but early enough to vote for the next President, Hubert Hoover, who was for Prohibition.



The “Ladies of Logan” sing hymns in front of a bar in support of the temperance movement.
Copyright State Historical Society of Wisconsin