The roots of the anti-alcohol movement lie in the plains of the United States of America. People who moved to the plains were Protestants and wanted to bring God to the land. This was very much so in Kansas. In Kansas the land value was low but the moral value was high. The people promoted the Bible. They stood against slavery and alcohol. They believed if slavery could be outlawed so could drinking. In that time everyone was drinking, men, ladies, even children were drinking. Saloons were the only place to have fun. .
The Kansas movement to abolish alcohol first started with people who had others sign a paper that they would not drink anymore. One lady marched through the snow. She was marching against drinking. After her first march the saloons in her town went from 13 to 1. This progress spread throughout the city. .
Francis Willard led the rally for women across the United States against saloons. She claimed that saloons damaged family values and the nation was being ruled by rum since the people who voted, the men, always went to saloons to drink. The anti-alcohol movement started as a religious campaign and quickly turned to a welfare campaign. .
Kansas was the first state to vote itself as a dry state. Some others followed. Then in 1893 Protestant businessmen from Ohio joined the crusade and took the battle all the way to Washington D. C. They drew support from the church. The boss of this operation was Wayne Wheeler. .
Ford helped the movement by not allowing anyone who worked for him to drink alcohol. He made house checks to make sure they were not drinking. .
Wheeler got many dry people into the House of Representatives, which allowed a bill to be passed to outlaw alcohol. .
