the temperance movement

   The "temperance movement" refers, in a general way,  to the campaign to ban alcohol in the United States, in the late 19th and early 20th century ( late 1800's and early 1900's ). The "Anti-Saloon League" was a part of this campaign, as was Carrie Nation--the woman who reportedly walked into saloons with an axe, meaning to chop up the bar. Proponents of temperance were sure that banning alcohol would solve a lot of the problems of poverty, as it seemed to them that too many breadwinners spent their weekly pay in saloons, instead of on rent and groceries. The appeals for relief of their destitute wives and children inspired the  movement for temperance.
     The temperance movement succeeded in banning alcohol, in 1918, with the famous "Volstead Act", and an amendment to the constitution. The years, sometimes called "dry years" when alcohol was illegal are called "prohibition", for the prohibition of alcohol. Prohibition is also called the "Noble Experiment", meaning it had good intentions. The experiment didn't work. We need the consent of 3/4 of the states to amend the constitution, so we might assume that the law had a lot of popular support, but the majority of the population ignored or flouted it. Anyone who had been spending his paycheck at a saloon now spent it at a speakeasy.       
     Worse than failing to improve conditions among the poor, illegal distribution of alcohol supposedly gave organized crime a boost that made it something of a national institution. The prohibition of alcohol was repealed ( with another constitutional amendment ) in 1932--the "Happy Days Are Here Again" year.