The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1874. The main objective of the WCTU was to persuade all states to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages. Early campaigners for prohibition included William Lloyd Garrison, Frances E. Willard, Anna Howard Shaw, Carry Nation and Ida Wise Smith.

Under the leadership of Frances E. Willard (1879-1898) and Anna Howard Shaw (1847-1919), the organisation succeeded in bringing about temperance education in schools. The WCTU also supported the prison reform, women's suffrage and the abolition of prostitution,

Opinion on prohibition began to change and by January, 1919, 75% of the states in America had approved the 18th Amendment which prohibited the "sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors". This became the law of the land when the Volstead Act was passed in 1920.