Prohibition will work
great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself,
for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by
legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law
strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.
Abraham Lincoln
Speech in the Illinois House of
Representatives, Dec 18, 1840.