Pre-Prohibition
In 1817, after the debt had been settled from the War of 1812, America began to enjoy a tax free period of spirits growth. With the spirits being produced, they saw many new saloons and bars thrive. In 1832 Congress passed the “Pioneer Inn and Tavern Law”, which allowed inns and saloons to serve alcoholic beverages without having the customer lease a room for the night.

Industrial Revolution
As the industrial revolution swept across the globe, America’s shores saw a large influx of immigrants, who brought with them their skills of distillation and brewing and their love for communal drinking establishments. Many neighborhood bars began springing up especially in the poor urban areas of New York where many of the immigrants resided. During this time the infamous Tammany Hall welcomed these new public drinking houses. With so many taverns and bars, in some place as many as three to a single block, the political kingpins used barmen and tavern owners as power brokers, in exchange for the licenses to run the tavern.

Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition In the United States (1920-1933) was the era during which the United States government outlawed the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. It also includes the prohibition of alcohol by state action at different times, and the social-political movement to secure prohibition. At any time possession of liquor, wine or beer was illegal. Drinking alcohol was never technically illegal, but one who was drinking was liable for prosecution on the grounds that they possessed the alcohol they were drinking.

Nationwide Prohibition
Nationwide prohibition was accomplished by means of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (ratified January 16, 1919) and the Volstead Act (passed October 28, 1919). Prohibition began on October 28, 1919, when the Volstead Act went into effect. Federal Prohibition agents (police) were given the task of enforcing the law. Principal impetus for the accomplishment of Prohibition were members of the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, and the Prohibition Party. It was truly a cooperative effort with “progressives” making up a substantial portion of both major political parties. The main force were pious Protestants, who comprised majorities in the Republican party in the North, and the Democratic party in the South. Catholics and Germans were the main opponents; however, Germans were discredited by World War I and their protests were ignored.

End of Prohibition
The Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed nationwide prohibition, explicitly gives states the right to restrict or ban the purchase or sale of alcohol; this has led to a patchwork of laws, in which alcohol may be legally sold in some but not all towns or counties within a particular state. After the repeal of the national constitutional amendment, some states continued to enforce prohibition laws. Mississippi, which had made alcohol illegal in 1907, was the last state to repeal prohibition, in 1966. There are numerous “dry” counties or towns where no liquor is sold, even though liquor can be brought in for private consumption. It was never illegal to drink liquor in the United States.