Role Of Prohibition In The 1920's
Noah Hebert
February 12th, 2018
U.S History research paper
Mr.Grosse
The 18th amendment that was passed officially made the distribution and drinking of alcohol illegal. This created an era in time which is known as prohibition, this was from 1920 to 1933. Even before the 1920’s people's dislike towards alcohol was evident. Such as in 1773 the founder of Methodism preached to people that drinking alcohol was sinful against god. Even in the early 1800’s movements were founded that were against drinking and having anything to do with alcohol. In the 1820’s through the 1830’s there was a movement that captured the nation called religious revivalism. This encouraged more people to look to religion and try to be more perfect as a society. …show more content…
This made more and more people decry for prohibition. In the state of Massachusetts in 1838 legislatures passed a law banning buying spirits in 15-gallon quantities. This was the first state to pass any type of law to put restrictions on alcohol
In 1846 Maine actually passed the first prohibition law and by doing this other states followed by passing their own prohibition laws. In the beginnings of the 1900’s alcohol was deemed destructive and unhealthy to the family. Women also played a key role in the temperance movement, everyone blamed alcohol as to why husbands were treating their wives and family poorly. There was also another rise is evangelical protestantism, they viewed the whole culture of drinking as evil and against god. Also many factory owners saw the problems with alcohol and supported prohibition to increase working proficiency. In 1893 the Anti-saloon league was established and in 1895 it became a national organization. It was only focused on one purpose: to institute prohibition. This organization had branches all over the country, and while they had this they attacked the sale on liquor. They established a large populations that supported them which were mostly protestants that disliked alcohol strongly. In 1917 well after the United States established themselves in world war 1,the president Woodrow Wilson instituted a temporary prohibition. The reason for this was to save the grain they used for alcohol and instead use it for making food. The same year Woodrow wilson instituted that prohibition, congress created the 18th amendment banning transporting, manufacturing, and of course sale of liquor. Of course it wasn't immediately passed and was given a generous 7 year deadline. And 11 months later it was given the support of most states. The 18th amendment was ratified on January 19th , 1919 making it go into full effect in 1920. And unsurprisingly a majority of the states already instituted plans for prohibition legislation. The National Prohibition Act which was created in 1919 gave guidelines for the federal enforcement on how this legislation would be enforced. The legislation of prohibition was popularly known more as the Volstead act.
A champion of prohibition who really pushed this legislation far was Andrew Volstead. He was a the chairman of the house judiciary committee, this is the reason why it was known as the Volstead act. Thanks to the large opposition to liquor sales a majority of the population was all for this legislation. It seemed like a good legislation on paper at the time but what they didn't know was how hard it would be to enforce this legislation. The federal government and the local government both struggled very much trying to enforce prohibition, especially in the 1920’s. At first the responsibility of enforcing the amendment was given to the Internal Revenue Service. But then the federal government quickly realized that to truly enforce this legislation they would need stronger enforcements. So the responsibility was generously given to the justice department. Prohibition was much more regulated in rural areas and not so much urban …show more content…
areas. Overall the alcohol consumption rate was down by a whole 30 percent. At first it seemed like the legislation was working, and arresting people for drunkenness was significantly down. Although there were people who were still going to drink even though it was possibly dangerous. At this time there was a term known as “bootlegging” which was the making and selling of liquor illegally. This led to a significant increase in criminal activities, which was very popular in the prohibition era, this created a rise in gang violence. A notorious example of a gangster in chicago was Alphonse Capone there were many movies made about him.
As a child part of an italian immigrant family he lived in a small New York tenant. His main influence was an early friend of his named Johnny Torrio, in 1920 capone moved from chicago to New york. His nickname was “scarface” because at a young age he got into a bar scuffle and someone slashed him in the face with a knife. Al capone eventually became czar of crime in chicago, he ran bootlegging and gained territory by using violence against other gangsters. Eventually Capone’s luck ran out and he was found guilty of tax evasion. That was the only thing the law enforcement could prove that he did. He was sentenced to 2-5 years in jail and was eventually moved to Alcatraz. When he spent the remainder of his sentence in Alcatraz he had no privileges he had at previous places he was held. After he got out of jail he died at the age 48 from cardiac arrest. The end of prohibition came when Franklin D Roosevelt won against Herbert Hoover. In 1933 congress instituted the 21st amendment meaning the repealing of the 18th amendment. This was the official end of the prohibition era, one of the reasons FDR wanted to legalize liquor was because of the great depression. Legalizing the liquor industry would lead to more jobs and the country was in dire need of new
jobs.
Bibliography:
http://www.history.com/topics/saint-valentines-day-massacre
https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/andrew-volstead/
https://prohibition.osu.edu/brewing-industry-prohibition
https://www.britannica.com/event/Prohibition-United-States-history-1920-1933
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-7/apush-1920s-america/a/prohibition
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.biography.com/.amp/people/al-capone-9237536
Book sources:
Behr, Edward. Prohibition: thirteen years that changed America. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2013.
Okrent, Daniel. Last call: the rise and fall of Prohibition. New York: Scribner, 2011.
February 12th, 2018
U.S History research paper
Mr.Grosse
The 18th amendment that was passed officially made the distribution and drinking of alcohol illegal. This created an era in time which is known as prohibition, this was from 1920 to 1933. Even before the 1920’s people's dislike towards alcohol was evident. Such as in 1773 the founder of Methodism preached to people that drinking alcohol was sinful against god. Even in the early 1800’s movements were founded that were against drinking and having anything to do with alcohol. In the 1820’s through the 1830’s there was a movement that captured the nation called religious revivalism. This encouraged more people to look to religion and try to be more perfect as a society. …show more content…
This made more and more people decry for prohibition. In the state of Massachusetts in 1838 legislatures passed a law banning buying spirits in 15-gallon quantities. This was the first state to pass any type of law to put restrictions on alcohol
In 1846 Maine actually passed the first prohibition law and by doing this other states followed by passing their own prohibition laws. In the beginnings of the 1900’s alcohol was deemed destructive and unhealthy to the family. Women also played a key role in the temperance movement, everyone blamed alcohol as to why husbands were treating their wives and family poorly. There was also another rise is evangelical protestantism, they viewed the whole culture of drinking as evil and against god. Also many factory owners saw the problems with alcohol and supported prohibition to increase working proficiency. In 1893 the Anti-saloon league was established and in 1895 it became a national organization. It was only focused on one purpose: to institute prohibition. This organization had branches all over the country, and while they had this they attacked the sale on liquor. They established a large populations that supported them which were mostly protestants that disliked alcohol strongly. In 1917 well after the United States established themselves in world war 1,the president Woodrow Wilson instituted a temporary prohibition. The reason for this was to save the grain they used for alcohol and instead use it for making food. The same year Woodrow wilson instituted that prohibition, congress created the 18th amendment banning transporting, manufacturing, and of course sale of liquor. Of course it wasn't immediately passed and was given a generous 7 year deadline. And 11 months later it was given the support of most states. The 18th amendment was ratified on January 19th , 1919 making it go into full effect in 1920. And unsurprisingly a majority of the states already instituted plans for prohibition legislation. The National Prohibition Act which was created in 1919 gave guidelines for the federal enforcement on how this legislation would be enforced. The legislation of prohibition was popularly known more as the Volstead act.
A champion of prohibition who really pushed this legislation far was Andrew Volstead. He was a the chairman of the house judiciary committee, this is the reason why it was known as the Volstead act. Thanks to the large opposition to liquor sales a majority of the population was all for this legislation. It seemed like a good legislation on paper at the time but what they didn't know was how hard it would be to enforce this legislation. The federal government and the local government both struggled very much trying to enforce prohibition, especially in the 1920’s. At first the responsibility of enforcing the amendment was given to the Internal Revenue Service. But then the federal government quickly realized that to truly enforce this legislation they would need stronger enforcements. So the responsibility was generously given to the justice department. Prohibition was much more regulated in rural areas and not so much urban …show more content…
areas. Overall the alcohol consumption rate was down by a whole 30 percent. At first it seemed like the legislation was working, and arresting people for drunkenness was significantly down. Although there were people who were still going to drink even though it was possibly dangerous. At this time there was a term known as “bootlegging” which was the making and selling of liquor illegally. This led to a significant increase in criminal activities, which was very popular in the prohibition era, this created a rise in gang violence. A notorious example of a gangster in chicago was Alphonse Capone there were many movies made about him.
As a child part of an italian immigrant family he lived in a small New York tenant. His main influence was an early friend of his named Johnny Torrio, in 1920 capone moved from chicago to New york. His nickname was “scarface” because at a young age he got into a bar scuffle and someone slashed him in the face with a knife. Al capone eventually became czar of crime in chicago, he ran bootlegging and gained territory by using violence against other gangsters. Eventually Capone’s luck ran out and he was found guilty of tax evasion. That was the only thing the law enforcement could prove that he did. He was sentenced to 2-5 years in jail and was eventually moved to Alcatraz. When he spent the remainder of his sentence in Alcatraz he had no privileges he had at previous places he was held. After he got out of jail he died at the age 48 from cardiac arrest. The end of prohibition came when Franklin D Roosevelt won against Herbert Hoover. In 1933 congress instituted the 21st amendment meaning the repealing of the 18th amendment. This was the official end of the prohibition era, one of the reasons FDR wanted to legalize liquor was because of the great depression. Legalizing the liquor industry would lead to more jobs and the country was in dire need of new
jobs.
Bibliography:
http://www.history.com/topics/saint-valentines-day-massacre
https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/andrew-volstead/
https://prohibition.osu.edu/brewing-industry-prohibition
https://www.britannica.com/event/Prohibition-United-States-history-1920-1933
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-7/apush-1920s-america/a/prohibition
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.biography.com/.amp/people/al-capone-9237536
Book sources:
Behr, Edward. Prohibition: thirteen years that changed America. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2013.
Okrent, Daniel. Last call: the rise and fall of Prohibition. New York: Scribner, 2011.