Alcohol has long been a polarizing topic in American history.
From George Washington’s distillery to undercover Prohibition agents to the 21st Amendment and re-legalization in 1933, alcohol has evoked vastly different reactions from different citizens. It’s something to be enjoyed; something to be controlled; something to be banned.
This evolution and contrast of opinions through time is the subject of “Spirited Republic: Alcohol in American History,” a new exhibit at the National Archives.
According to a Washington Times article, the exhibit is split into four sections: “positive attitudes and widespread consumption, the temperance reform and the shift toward prohibition, the enforcement of the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act and, finally, the end of Prohibition and return of the alcohol industry to the American landscape.”
The exhibit runs through January 10, 2016.
