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In the late nineteenth century, the brewing industry experienced sharp dissention from the Temperance Movement, whose adherents opposed drunkenness on moral grounds, and fiercely advocated outlawing all forms of alcoholic beverages. The movement gained so much support that in 1920, Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment, banning the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating beverages, including beer. While some breweries survived Prohibition by switching to the manufacture of soft drinks or non-alcoholic beer, most brewing businesses failed and never re-opened after the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933.
Photograph
"Picket volunteers of 1912"
1912
Book (cover)
Year book of the United States Brewers’ Association
1916
Published just four years before the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, this year book includes many articles written by brewers arguing against National Prohibition.
Photograph
"Stamp out Prohibition"
Car decorated with Anti-Prohibition slogans
Wilmington, Delaware
ca. 1930
Postcard
"The family of John Wesley drank small beer at every meal"
Prohibition-Probes
Association Against the Prohibition Amendment
ca. 1930
Book (detail)
When the Brewer had the Stranglehold
by Ernest Gordon
1930
Written three years before the end of National Prohibition, this book seeks to remind Prohibition supporters about the dark times before passage of the Eighteenth Amendment.
Photograph
Hartmann & Fehrenbach Brewery
Wilmington, Delaware
1933
Yet another victim of National Prohibition, the Hartmann & Fehrenbach Brewery sits empty and for sale in 1933.
Photograph
"Ready to Make "Beer for Taxation""
Anheuser Busch Brewery
St. Louis, Missouri
April 20, 1932
Machinery at the Anheuser Busch Brewery is kept in working order in anticipation of the repeal of Prohibition.
Periodical
American Brewer, publication of the Master Brewers' Association of America
April, 1933
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Twenty-first Amendment on April16th, 1933, making 3.2 percent alcohol beer legal, and ending national Prohibition.
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