Prohibition

PROHIBITION

By Jackson 

Thesis: In the U.S.A prohibition was a complete failure because people made their own alcohol, gang’s smuggled alcohol and the amount of “wets in society where far greater than the “dries”  

History of Prohibition

Prohibition was the period, from 1920 to 1933, in U.S. history when manufacturing, sale and transportation of liquor were illegal. This was a time period when even the average citizen broke the law. After the American Revolution, in 1783, many people were drinking way too much. To combat this many societies tried pushing for a moderation in alcohol, but after many decades they began the Temperance Movement to banning drinking out right. The Temperance Movement blamed alcohol for many of the society’s crime such as murder and domestic violence. The goal of the Temperance Movement was to stop men from spending most of the families’ income on drinking and to stop accidents in business because workers drank during lunch.

Prohibition is often defined as a legal test of moral behavior. Prohibition is legally known as the 18th amendment which was repealed in 1933, was a government attempt to make American citizens more Moral people and to take care of American’s drinking addiction. Prohibition was enforced similarly to prostitution and illegal drug use. And, just like them, an illegal black market was made for selling alcohol.

When prohibition started, the American people were furious, claiming it was against their rights, where as crime lords were very happy at the opportunity to make money. Prohibition in the U.S. lasted 13 years, from 1920 to 1933. People formed groups called the “wets” and the “dries”. Wets were the people that were against prohibition and the Dries were people that agreed with prohibition. Prohibition started as an attempt to reduce alcohol intake, but as the cause became more popular, it turned into a ban of all alcohol. As soon as prohibition was enacted, people started making their own alcohol; wine, beer, and bathtub gin. Saloons started to open illegally, selling alcoholic beverages. A lot of other nations such as Mexico, Australia, and Canada have tried prohibition with the same outcome as the U.S. Failure. The U.S. experienced failure because too many people were against prohibition. People enjoyed liquor, and the government wasn’t doing going to stop them.

The lessons of Prohibition remain important today. They apply not only to the debate over the war on drugs but also to the mounting efforts to drastically reduce access to alcohol and tobacco. Seeing that prohibition was a huge failure in the 20th century, should we repeat it on drugs?

Al Capone:

            Alphonse Gabriel Capone, also known as “Al Capone”, was born on January 17th, 1899. Al Capone started as a small-time gangster working for the Junior Forty Thieves, the Bowery Boys, and the Five Points Gang. At a Brooklyn nightclub he insulted a woman, which caused her brother to get angry and attack him. He received 3 scars down his face, giving him the nickname “Scarface.” The man who gave him those scars was then hired as his bodyguard because Capone admired his spirit.

Al Capone was a major player during prohibition. He was a well known seller of liquor at the time. Al Capone tipped many people off in order to be successful in his business. It     apparently worked, because he was only caught and arrested for tax evasion but, many people believe Al Capone much more than that.

Al Capone Video

Adolphus Busch:

He envisioned a national beer with the universal appeal. During the American Civil War he severed in the United State Army for 14 months. During this time he learned that his father passed away and that he inherited part of his father estate. With this money he started a wholesale brewer's supply store. After 4 years passed he bought a share in the Bavarian brewery from his father in law. The company was first named "Anheuser and Company" but after the death of his father and law it was named "Anheuser Busch Company". The brewery was the most powerful brewery in the united states in the 1900"s.

Adolphus Busch Video

George Remus
A very well know criminal attorney in the Midwest, George Remus spent 20 years as a defense attorney in Chicago. He bought up many distilleries and created his own drug company. He became a very successful bootlegger, being both a seller and a buyer. Remus eventually had over 3,000 employees working for him and he was doing millions of dollars worth of business a year. In 1925 Remus was put on trial and in less than 2 hours the jury found him guilty.

George Remus Video

                                                                  


Eliot Ness
 He was a famous American Prohibition police officer known to enforce Prohibition in Chicago. He was also the leader of a team of eleven men of law enforcement nicknamed The Untouchables.

Roy Olmstead
Also known as "King of the Puget sound Bootleggers", Roy was a young and promising lieutenant on the Seattle police force until he was caught bootlegging and fired from the police. He then turned into a professional bootlegger and before long he was making more in a week then he would make in twenty years a police officer. Olmestead soon bought off local authorities such as sheriff's deputies, the chief of police, and even the mayor. 
Roy Olmstead Video

Eliza Thompson
She lead groups of women into salons where they sang hymns, religious songs,  and prayed for the closure of the establishment. These non-violent protests were successful and quickly spread far across the state of Ohio and later a total of 22 other states stretching form New York to California. Within several year the movement eventually subsided; however, it was a successful in starting the temperance movement. 




The Temperance Movement
It was an organized effort to encourage a moderation in the act of consuming intoxicating liquors. The movement was mostly driven by women who with their children had endured the harsh effects alcohol had on their husband. 

                                                              Rum-running

More popularly known as bootlegging, was the illegal business of smuggling alcoholic beverages. The term rum-running was usually used when the alcohol was being smuggled over water and bootlegging was usually used when it was being smuggled on land. This term was believed to be developed during the Civil War, when soldiers would smuggle alcohol into army camps by putting pint bottles into their boot. A popular way smugglers made even more money was by renaming the liquors for example, a cheap sparkling wine was renamed to French champagne.

Where it happened?

Americans were not alone during the first quarter of the 20th century in adopting prohibition on a large scale: others enacting similar measures included Iceland, Finland, Norway, both czarist Russia and the Soviet Union, Canadian provinces, and Canada’s federal government. A majority of New Zealand voters twice approved national prohibition but never got it. As a result of 100 years of temperance agitation, the American cultural climate at the time Prohibition went into effect was deeply hostile to alcohol, and this manifested itself clearly  through a wave of successful referential on statewide prohibition.

Why Repeal Prohibition?

Still used for making home-made alcohol

How can anything succeed if more people are against it than for it?

The majority of people for prohibition later changed their minds because of the unintended consequences. During the Prohibition Era gang violence was at an all time high, many gangs saw the prohibition as a huge money making opportunity. If people wanted alcohol why not sell it to

 them illegally and over-priced? Also people found ways to get around the ban on liquor, mostly by making their own by using stills. So why keep Prohibition if it causes more wrong than right?

 Here are some free moonshine recipes

What lessons can be learned form Prohibition?

The lessons of prohibition can still be used today, one example is on drugs.  A prohibition on drugs very well could happen but the only way it will happen is if more people want the prohibition then people that don’t want it. In the case of prohibition of alcohol there were more “wets”, people who wanted alcohol, the “dries”, people who didn't want alcohol. Because of this the prohibition on alcohol was a failure. Also the prohibition on alcohol sprouted un-intended side effects such as gangs and bootlegger, people who illegally smuggled alcohol. In the case of the prohibition on alcohol it created more wrong than right making it un-successful. If a prohibition on drugs were to occur we would need to make sure that it would solve problems and not create new and more severe problems.

Time Line of Prohibition

• 1826, Reverand Lyman Beecher Preaches against the evils of alcohol
• 1851, Maine was the first state to prohibit the manufacture and sale of liquor
• 1856, Maine repeals the prohibit on liquor
• 1873, Eliza Thompson led women to sing against alcohol
• 1910, Adolphus Busch is the most powerful brewer in the United States
• 1914, Pre-Prohibition Temperance raid getting rid of liquor in Topeka, Kansas
• 1919, The 18th Amendment is established
• 1926, Al Capone is blamed for murder of Billy McSwiggin
• 1928, The Purple gang goes on trial for bootlegging
• 1929, Gang violence is on the rise in almost every city is the U.S.A
• 1929, The Valentine’s Day Massacre, when Al Capone has 7 of Bugs Moran's Men murdered
• 1933, The 21st amendment repealing prohibition is established