The Progressive Era was a time when many social, political, and economic reforms were taking place. During this time, the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution, commonly known as the Prohibition Amendment, was ratified in 1919. The Amendment prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transport of intoxicating liquors. Although it was passed to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, relieve the tax burden caused by overcrowded prisons, and improve health and hygiene in the United States, the Eighteenth Amendment was a complete failure, because it only exacerbated the problems it was intended to alleviate.
The United States had been going through a liberal time, when many reforms were taking place. The Eighteenth Amendment had exhibited many of the characteristics of the other reforms during the Progressive Era. It was concerned with morals of society, supported mainly by the middle class, and intended to control liquor distillers and their connections to political corruption. There was a great deal of sentiment at the time for improvement of society. .
The temperance movement began well before the time of the Civil War. By the time the Amendment was passed, many states already had state prohibition laws. The Women's Christian Temperance Movement (WCTU), led by Frances E. Willard, and the Anti-Saloon League, led by Wayne B. Wheeler, helped spread the word about temperance. (Lawson 12-13) The women felt that alcohol caused destructive behavior and they needed to do something about it. The members of the WCTU, which was founded in 1874, would go into saloons and drop down on their knees and start praying. They would demand that liquor stop being sold and in only three months they had stopped alcohol consumption in 250 communities. ("The History of") .
By 1919, several signs that the country was ready for a prohibition amendment had emerged. Twelve new states had been admitted to the Union, most of which had been "dry", or states that had prohibited alcohol.