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40 Historical Markers on the Road to Prohibition

Khalid Elhassan December 2, 2019 31 min

Black and white - Monochrome — 19th century Brewery. Pintrest

25. Prohibition Was the Greatest Single Motivator For Women to Seek the Vote

During the nineteenth century, the single greatest motivator for women to want to vote was the desire to do something about alcohol. They saw the emergence of saloons as a malignity that threatened the moral fabric of society and wanted them closed, or at least regulated. They wanted greater protection from the physical abuse of drunken spouses. They wanted property rights to protect themselves and their children from profligate husbands blowing the family’s finances on booze.

However, it was difficult for women to get what they wanted without the ability to elect the lawmakers. Thus, as the nineteenth century progressed, more and more women came to see the vote as a vital means of protecting themselves and their families, often from threats posed by alcohol.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.