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)
“Nearest to all things is that power which fashions their being. Next to us the grandest laws are constantly being executed. Next to us is not the workman whom we have hired, with whom we love so well to talk, but the workman whose work we are.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)