prohibition - web viewwas the most notorious of the prohibition-era gangsters who made their...
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Prohibition
In 1920, the United States banned the sale and import of alcoholic beverages. Overview
● Prohibition was a nationwide ban on the sale and import of alcoholic beverages that lasted
from 1920 to 1933.
● Protestants, Progressives, and women all spearheaded the drive to institute Prohibition.
● Prohibition led directly to the rise of organized crime.
● The Twenty-first Amendment, ratified in December 1933, repealed Prohibition.
The temperance movement
The roots of the temperance movement stretch all the way back to the early nineteenth century. The
American Temperance Society, founded in 1826, encouraged voluntary abstinence from alcohol,
and influenced many successor organizations, which advocated mandatory prohibition on the sale
and import of alcoholic beverages. Many religious sects and denominations, and especially
Methodists, became active in the temperance movement. Women were especially influential. The
Women’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1873, was one of the leading advocates of
prohibition.
During the Progressive Era, calls for prohibition became more strident. In many ways, temperance
activists were seeking to ameliorate the negative social effects of rapid industrialization. Saloons and
the heavy drinking culture they fostered were associated with immigrants and members of the
working class, and were seen as detrimental to the values of a Christian society. The Anti-Saloon
League, with strong support from Protestants and other Christian denominations, spearheaded the
drive for nationwide prohibition. In fact, the Anti-Saloon League was the most powerful political
pressure group in US history—no other organization had ever managed to alter the nation’s
Constitution.
Photograph of men dumping barrels of alcohol outside of a warehouse.
Sheriff's deputies dumping illegal alcohol in California, 1932. Image courtesy Orange County Archives.
Enacting Prohibition: the Eighteenth Amendment
The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, and went into effect one year later,
on January 17, 1920. The Eighteenth Amendment reflected the Progressives’ faith in the federal
government’s ability to fix social problems. Because the law did not specifically outlaw the
consumption of alcohol, however, many US citizens stockpiled personal reserves of beer, wine, and
liquor before the ban took effect.
Though the advocates of prohibition had argued that banning sales of alcohol would reduce criminal
activity, it in fact directly contributed to the rise of organized crime. After the Eighteenth Amendment
went into force, bootlegging, or the illegal distillation and sale of alcoholic beverages, became
widespread. Al Capone was the most notorious of the prohibition-era gangsters who made their
fortunes from the illegal distillation and sale of alcohol. Many law enforcement agencies simply lacked
the resources to consistently and effectively enforce prohibition.
Photograph of Al Capone. *Al Capone's mugshot, 1931. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Repealing Prohibition: the Twenty-first Amendment
Women were just as active in the anti-prohibition campaign as they had been in the campaign to
enact prohibition. The Women’s Organization for National Prohibition Reform led the drive for
repeal. The organization framed its campaign in moral terms, arguing that the effects of prohibition—
the rise of a criminal class, the corruption of public officials, and a widespread disrespect for the rule
of law—represented a serious threat to American homes and families.
Another factor militating in favor of repeal was the onset of the Great Depression. Given the dire
economic situation facing the nation, the federal government could not afford to forego the tax
revenues from the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
The Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, was ratified on December
5, 1933, conclusively ending the nation’s ban on the manufacture and distribution of alcohol.
Prohibition was a social experiment that had nurtured the very ills that it sought to ameliorate—
criminal activity, public corruption, and a casual disregard for the rule of law.
Name ____________________________
What do you think? Answer the questions with a few sentences each.
1. Why did Progressives, and especially women, support the ban on alcohol sales?
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2. Do you think prohibition was an effective solution to the problems of a rapidly industrializing
society? Why or why not?
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3. What were the positive and negative consequences of prohibition?
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