Long before settlement began in the New World, alcohol had played an important role in people's lives. Not only was it customary to drink regularly and daily, but alcohol was generally considered part of God's creation, therefore "intrinsically good." The colonies laid the foundation for America's legacy of alcohol consumption that had to be completely moderate. Moderation was not simply proclaimed religiously, but was seen as effective and linked to economic stability. Although drunkenness was not necessarily stigmatized, over the years government officials began to view alcohol abuse as a resurgent and threatening societal problem. This became even more evident when industrialization changed the contribution of work environments, the latter relying more and more on technological processes and the ability of individuals to coordinate them. Additionally, due to technological advancements, alcohol production has increased, as has consumption, due to availability and accessibility. In just thirteen years, between 1900 and 1913, beer production alone increased from 4.6 billion to 7.6 billion liters. Gradually, “drunkenness will be defined as a threat to industrial efficiency and growth.” Various laws were therefore adopted from 1697 in order to establish official control over alcohol consumption. It was therefore because of a morally ignored increase in alcohol abuse that state officials were prompted to enact laws in this regard. And it is also because of the growing concerns about the health and working capacities of citizens that legislative texts have been frequently adopted. Alcohol prohibition laws were means by which the government sought to achieve specific goals......middle of article......d J. "National Prohibition of Alcohol in the US » Accessed November 16, 2013. http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1091124904.html#.UodkItLxrR8.Murdock, Gilbert, Catherine. Domestic Drink: Women, Men, and Alcohol in America, 1870-1940. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. Powers, Madelon. “Decadence from Within: The Inevitable Fate of the American Saloon.” » In Drinking: Behavior and Belief in Modern History, edited by Susanna Barrows and Robin Room, 112-164. Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford: University of California Press, 1991. Slavicek, Louise, Chipley. The Prohibition Era: Temperance in the United States. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Vance, Robert, Patrick. “The End of Prohibition.” Concord Review, Inc. 12 (2001): 97-116. Accessed November 16, 2013. http://www.tcr.org/tcr/essays/EPrize_Prohibition.pdf.