 Prohibition debates and referendums heated up politics in most states over a period of decades, and national prohibition was finally passed in 1918 (repealed in 1932), serving as a major issue between the largely wet Democrats and the largely dry Republicans - although there was pro-Prohibition fraction within the Democratic and an anti-Prohibition fraction within the Republican Party.The collapse of the Whigs after 1852 left political chaos.Various prohibitionist and nativist movements emerged, especially the American Party, based originally on the secret Know Nothing lodges.