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“A Hundred Miles of Dry”: Religion and the Persistence of Prohibition in the U.S. States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

John Frendreis  and
Raymond Tatalovich
John Frendreis
Affiliation:
Loyola University, Chicago
Raymond Tatalovich
Affiliation:
Loyola University, Chicago
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Abstract

Our fundamental objective in this article is to explain why certain counties within the U.S continue to restrict the sale of alcohol at the start of the 21st century. What factors identified as important for the initial drive for Prohibition remain important nearly 80 years later? We assess to what extent social, political, and economic variables are related to the presence of restrictions on the sale of alcohol at the county-level across the United States. Analyzing contemporary county-level data from over 3,000 U.S. counties, the strongest factor associated with “dry” status of a county is the religious composition, specifically the presence of Evangelical Protestants. Conversely, a larger concentration of Roman Catholics inhibits prohibition in a county. The regional character of the political geography of contemporary prohibition—the phenomenon is almost entirely Southern—appears to be driven by the uneven distribution of different religious adherents across the country.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , Fall 2010 , pp. 302 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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