The temperance movement can be viewed as simultaneously traditional and modern, making it difficult to position Prohibition in the cultural clash between old and new. In one sense, the temperance movement was traditional for it sprung from Protestant religious activism, an emphasis on family and morality, and an effort to mandate behavioral standards for the American populace. Prohibitionists believed that they were prioritizing the good of the community over the good of the individual. Prohibition also was associated with conservative anti-immigrant attitudes as well, for many Prohibitionists believed that the massive influx of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe was embedding a culture of drink in America.

Yet temperance was also a modern movement, especially when headed by the bureaucratic Anti-Saloon League because it embodied many of the new and "progressive" values of the time. These modern characteristics included bureaucratic organization, use of experts, scientific investigation, and the idea of using the authority of the government to create order and well-being in a society. The League also profited from an excellent understanding of modern politics.

Read a Dry legislative leader's argument for prohibition