Anti-Saloon League incorporated at Oberlin, Ohio

Background. The Anti-Saloon League, now known as the American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems, is an organization of the temperance movement in the United States. It was founded in 1893 in Oberlin, Ohio, and was a key component of the Progressive Era. The organization drew support from Protestant ministers and their congregations, especially Methodists, Baptists, Disciples, and Congregationalists.

Organizational Strategy. The league was the first modern pressure group in the United States organized around one issue. This organizational strategy reinvigorated the temperance movement. As it tried to mobilize public opinion in favor of a dry, saloonless nation, the League invented many of the modern techniques of public relations.

Context and Legacy. Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, home to Oberlin College. The Anti-Saloon League became a national organization in 1895, rising to become the most powerful prohibition lobby in America. Its triumph was nationwide prohibition locked into the Constitution with passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919.