An estimated 18.5 million Americans present signs of alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence with an additional 7.2 million showing drinking behaviors associated with poor health and social interaction. According to an article published in Time magazine, one in twenty-five deaths around the world is alcohol related.
Early World History
Many archaeologists believe that the existence of wines produced from grapes dates back over ten thousand years ago and that variations of beer can be dated even further back in history. Early engravings and pictographs on walls and clay tablets show the making of alcoholic beverages that make the drinkers feel "exhilarated, wonderful and blissful."
Around 800 B.C., China and India began producing distilled alcoholic beverages. The process of distilling alcohol made its way to Europe in the eleventh century. There is documentation of the medical school in Salerno, Italy distilling spirits in 1100. The term, 'spirits', is used in reference to the extraction of the alcohol from the spirit of wine.
Alcohol consumption continued to grow for the next several hundred years through the middle ages, when many monasteries began to make beer to nourish their monks and sell to people in the surrounding areas. In the 1500s the term 'alcohol' began to be only used to refer to distilled spirits rather than all products produced in similar methods as it had previously been used.
Being one of the first occupations to form a guild, the brew-masters of the alcohol brewing trade passed down the proper techniques of brewing to apprentices. As technology advanced throughout history, it because possible and much easier to produce much more pure alcohol and much higher strengths.
Early U.S. History
During the colonial history of the United States, alcohol was a widely used beverage for the purposes of socialization and health. It was a common belief and understanding at the time that alcohol had many health benefits. In 1675, the Office of the Tithingman of Massachusetts was established to report any violations of liquor laws within people's homes. In 1694, Cotton Mather, a Puritan Minister in Massachusetts blamed growing ungodly behavior on increased excessive alcohol consumption.
During the period of the American Revolution, very little attention was paid to drunkenness and alcohol became increasingly prevalent in the business of colonial America. The first noticeable attempts to regulate alcohol and its consumption occurred during the Revolutionary War but with very little impact and because of the poor social conditions following the war the attempts made were fruitless and the consumption of alcohol increased rapidly.
The United States' temperance movement began in the late 1700s with the gathering of New England Federalists to discuss the impact and consequences of alcohol consumption. The most prominent leader of the temperance movement was Dr. Benjamin Rush. His ideas were the primary foundation of this movement. He explained that alcohol consumption was detrimental to one's health, both physical and psychological. In 1784, he described what we would now call alcohol dependence as an involuntary condition. He laid the foundation for what is now called the disease concept or model of addiction and alcoholism.
Despite the thinking of Dr. Rush, the ideas of the temperance movement and the whiskey tax (The Act of 1791), which was later repealed by Thomas Jefferson in 1802, the number of saloons in the late 1700s-early 1800s grew at an exponential rate. There were so many that by the early 1800s there was at least one saloon for every 100-200 Americans, including those that did not drink alcohol. As a solution to what they felt was a growing epidemic, Maine passed the first successful prohibition law in 1851. After the passing of the law, twelve other states followed Maine's example and became "dry" states.
In 1862, along with creating the Internal Revenue Service, Abraham Lincoln enacted the Act of July 1, which imposed a new tax on liquor. This tax started at 20 cents per gallon in 1862 and by the end of 1864 it was $2.00 per gallon of alcohol. Although a nationwide ban on alcohol would not go in to effect for another 20 years, by 1900 half the states in the country had their own prohibition laws in place.
Modern U.S. History
By 1900, alcohol was beginning to lose its reputation as a beverage that was healthy and that had medicinal purposes. In 1906, The Pure Food and Drug Act was passed that required certain drugs, including alcohol, to be accurately labeled with contents and dosage. Companies could no longer sell alcoholic beverages as patented medicines that had "secret ingredients."
During the first World War a Wartime Prohibition Act was enacted to save grain that was used in the production alcohol for food. This act led to the prohibition of alcohol in 33 states by 1920. Proposed in 1917 and ratified in January of 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment, along with the Volstead Act which was passed in October of 1919, began the thirteen year national prohibition era. The official start date of national prohibition was January 17, 1920 and it ran until the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment on December 5, 1933.
Numerous studies and reports show that death tolls and crime rates of the 1920s were extremely high and were largely due to the prohibition of alcohol. Hundreds of deaths in the early 1920s were linked to contaminated alcoholic beverages. Organized crime came to be out of the desire for the potentially high amount of money that could be made from illegally manufacturing, transporting and selling alcohol.
Despite these severe negatives of prohibition that these studies report, most people are unaware that prohibition decreased the consumption of alcohol by 33% of the pre-prohibition level and that because of prohibition you can and will still find dry counties all across America. The reason you will still find such counties and towns is because the Twenty-first Amendment did not just repeal national prohibition, it also gave states back the right to determine whether to restrict or ban the sale and purchase of alcohol. This framework then made it possible for states to give individual counties and towns the right to restrict or ban the sale or purchase of alcohol.
After prohibition America will see the rise of many organizations and individuals trying to combat alcohol and alcoholism. Some of the most notable that appeared shortly after prohibition are Alcoholics Anonymous, founded in the 1930s by Bill W. and Dr. Bob and Elvin Morton Jellinek, who gave us the Jellinek formula to estimate the prevalence of alcoholism in the population by the occurrence of deaths from cirrhosis of the liver. This history of alcohol is just a brief summary in the hopes that it will help people better understand where it comes from, where it has been over the course of history and how the United States has struggled with it and the problems it has caused.
There are many places to visit for more information on the history of alcohol and alcoholism. Some of the resources available are: TIME Magazine, the CDC website, Drug-Rehabs.org and the Addiction and Treatment Blog.
Early World History
Many archaeologists believe that the existence of wines produced from grapes dates back over ten thousand years ago and that variations of beer can be dated even further back in history. Early engravings and pictographs on walls and clay tablets show the making of alcoholic beverages that make the drinkers feel "exhilarated, wonderful and blissful."
Around 800 B.C., China and India began producing distilled alcoholic beverages. The process of distilling alcohol made its way to Europe in the eleventh century. There is documentation of the medical school in Salerno, Italy distilling spirits in 1100. The term, 'spirits', is used in reference to the extraction of the alcohol from the spirit of wine.
Alcohol consumption continued to grow for the next several hundred years through the middle ages, when many monasteries began to make beer to nourish their monks and sell to people in the surrounding areas. In the 1500s the term 'alcohol' began to be only used to refer to distilled spirits rather than all products produced in similar methods as it had previously been used.
Being one of the first occupations to form a guild, the brew-masters of the alcohol brewing trade passed down the proper techniques of brewing to apprentices. As technology advanced throughout history, it because possible and much easier to produce much more pure alcohol and much higher strengths.
Early U.S. History
During the colonial history of the United States, alcohol was a widely used beverage for the purposes of socialization and health. It was a common belief and understanding at the time that alcohol had many health benefits. In 1675, the Office of the Tithingman of Massachusetts was established to report any violations of liquor laws within people's homes. In 1694, Cotton Mather, a Puritan Minister in Massachusetts blamed growing ungodly behavior on increased excessive alcohol consumption.
During the period of the American Revolution, very little attention was paid to drunkenness and alcohol became increasingly prevalent in the business of colonial America. The first noticeable attempts to regulate alcohol and its consumption occurred during the Revolutionary War but with very little impact and because of the poor social conditions following the war the attempts made were fruitless and the consumption of alcohol increased rapidly.
The United States' temperance movement began in the late 1700s with the gathering of New England Federalists to discuss the impact and consequences of alcohol consumption. The most prominent leader of the temperance movement was Dr. Benjamin Rush. His ideas were the primary foundation of this movement. He explained that alcohol consumption was detrimental to one's health, both physical and psychological. In 1784, he described what we would now call alcohol dependence as an involuntary condition. He laid the foundation for what is now called the disease concept or model of addiction and alcoholism.
Despite the thinking of Dr. Rush, the ideas of the temperance movement and the whiskey tax (The Act of 1791), which was later repealed by Thomas Jefferson in 1802, the number of saloons in the late 1700s-early 1800s grew at an exponential rate. There were so many that by the early 1800s there was at least one saloon for every 100-200 Americans, including those that did not drink alcohol. As a solution to what they felt was a growing epidemic, Maine passed the first successful prohibition law in 1851. After the passing of the law, twelve other states followed Maine's example and became "dry" states.
In 1862, along with creating the Internal Revenue Service, Abraham Lincoln enacted the Act of July 1, which imposed a new tax on liquor. This tax started at 20 cents per gallon in 1862 and by the end of 1864 it was $2.00 per gallon of alcohol. Although a nationwide ban on alcohol would not go in to effect for another 20 years, by 1900 half the states in the country had their own prohibition laws in place.
Modern U.S. History
By 1900, alcohol was beginning to lose its reputation as a beverage that was healthy and that had medicinal purposes. In 1906, The Pure Food and Drug Act was passed that required certain drugs, including alcohol, to be accurately labeled with contents and dosage. Companies could no longer sell alcoholic beverages as patented medicines that had "secret ingredients."
During the first World War a Wartime Prohibition Act was enacted to save grain that was used in the production alcohol for food. This act led to the prohibition of alcohol in 33 states by 1920. Proposed in 1917 and ratified in January of 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment, along with the Volstead Act which was passed in October of 1919, began the thirteen year national prohibition era. The official start date of national prohibition was January 17, 1920 and it ran until the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment on December 5, 1933.
Numerous studies and reports show that death tolls and crime rates of the 1920s were extremely high and were largely due to the prohibition of alcohol. Hundreds of deaths in the early 1920s were linked to contaminated alcoholic beverages. Organized crime came to be out of the desire for the potentially high amount of money that could be made from illegally manufacturing, transporting and selling alcohol.
Despite these severe negatives of prohibition that these studies report, most people are unaware that prohibition decreased the consumption of alcohol by 33% of the pre-prohibition level and that because of prohibition you can and will still find dry counties all across America. The reason you will still find such counties and towns is because the Twenty-first Amendment did not just repeal national prohibition, it also gave states back the right to determine whether to restrict or ban the sale and purchase of alcohol. This framework then made it possible for states to give individual counties and towns the right to restrict or ban the sale or purchase of alcohol.
After prohibition America will see the rise of many organizations and individuals trying to combat alcohol and alcoholism. Some of the most notable that appeared shortly after prohibition are Alcoholics Anonymous, founded in the 1930s by Bill W. and Dr. Bob and Elvin Morton Jellinek, who gave us the Jellinek formula to estimate the prevalence of alcoholism in the population by the occurrence of deaths from cirrhosis of the liver. This history of alcohol is just a brief summary in the hopes that it will help people better understand where it comes from, where it has been over the course of history and how the United States has struggled with it and the problems it has caused.
There are many places to visit for more information on the history of alcohol and alcoholism. Some of the resources available are: TIME Magazine, the CDC website, Drug-Rehabs.org and the Addiction and Treatment Blog.
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