"Dixie Editors Fear Dry Force Bill Will Lead to Negro Control in South"

"The question is not one of liquor at all.  It is simply a question of State's rights—or whether local self-government should be abolished in this nation or not."  This broadside railing against the Anti-Saloon League and the national prohibition movement was printed around 1918 (GLC 09079).  By this time, several Southern states had already passed their own state prohibition laws, so why were these same states opposed to a nationwide law?  The answer lies with the issue of states' rights, the idea that the states possess certain rights and powers defined by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  These "Dixie Editors" opposed the Eighteenth Amendment because they felt it was a violation of the bounds of federal authority. 
 
But underlying the South's opposition to the prohibition amendment based on states' rights was the ongoing issue of race.  Many in the South felt forced into the passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, giving African Americans citizenship and the right to vote. As a result, these rights were not always upheld and racism was a persistent problem.  In the "Negro Question" article printed in this broadside, an editor writes, "...That [Fifteenth] amendment gives to Congress the power to force upon the South a vote for the negro—and a revival of the dangerous color question... it would give South Carolina a NEGRO government from top to bottom."  There was a fear of allowing African Americans to gain any sort of political power.  These Southern newspapers believed that by allowing the prohibition amendment to pass, they would be opening the door to further interference from the Federal Government.
 
The Eighteenth Amendment outlawing the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol went into effect on January 16, 1920.  Largely considered a failure, it was overturned by the Twenty-first Amendment in December 1933.
 
Marisa Morigi, Deputy Curator
Gilder Lehrman Collection

GLC 09079. "Dixie Editors Fear Dry Force Bill Will Lead to Negro Controls in South; Destroys State Rights", Broadside. c. 1918.

For more information or to obtain copies, contact Ana Ramirez-Luhrs at reference@gilderlehrman.com or call (212) 787-6616 ext. 209.

Szymanski, Anne-Marie E., Pathways to Prohibition: Radicals, Moderates, and Social Movement Outcomes. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003.

Behr, Edward, Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America. New York: Arcade Pub.; Distributed by Little, Brown and Co., c1996.
 
Blakey, Leonard, The sale of Liquor in the South; The History of the Development of a Normal Social Restraint in Southern Commonwealths. New York: AMS Press, 1969.