Final answer:
Lyman Beecher wrote a pamphlet in 1785, 'Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance,' which influenced the movement towards prohibition that culminated in the Volstead Act and Eighteenth Amendment. Despite initial success, prohibition was challenging to enforce, leading to widespread illegal production and sale of alcohol.
Step-by-step explanation:
Origins of the Prohibition Movement-
The pamphlet that helped fuel the movement towards prohibition, leading to the Volstead Act and the Eighteenth Amendment over a century later, was written by Presbyterian minister Lyman Beecher in 1785. Beecher's work, 'Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance,' called for total abstinence from hard liquor and advocated for the formation of voluntary associations to promote temperance. His ideas gained widespread support and propelled the temperance movement forward, which played a significant role in the eventual enactment of prohibition laws in the United States.
Aiding the call for prohibition was the association of alcohol consumption with societal problems by organizations such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League. Prohibitionists also capitalized on anti-German sentiment during World War I, and the need to ration grain, to push for federal action resulting in the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment and the passing of the Volstead Act. However, lax enforcement and widespread desire for alcohol made prohibition difficult to uphold, contributing to the rise of bootleggers and speakeasies, ultimately leading to the repeal of the law in 1933.