Three-mile laws refer to the laws passed during the temperance movement in many southern and mid-western states during the 19th and early 20th centuries. These laws were normally passed at the local or county level, but some laws were passed by state governments. The laws required all liquor stores, bars, and other liquor establishments to be built at least three miles away from a church or a school. Some remote counties still enact the three-miles laws today.
Famous quotes containing the words three-mile and/or laws:
“Their sighin’, cantin’, grace-proud faces,
Their three-mile prayers, and half-mile graces.”
—Robert Burns (1759–1796)
“The chess-board is the world; the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)