From January 16, 1919 To December 5,1933, The Volstead

Alcohol was seen as the devil's advocate and banning the substance would help improve the quality of American lives. Instead, crime rates rocketed as well as the amount of violence. The selling of liquor during the prohibition was coined as the term, “bootlegging.” Bootleggers used waterways, rivers, cars, and trains to transport alcohol across state line. When the American people became desperate the resulted to homemade alcohol. Due to alcohol being made in homes and other places that weren’t certified for the production of Alcohol, the quality became poor and this resulted in many people contracting illnesses. Death from alcohol poisoning alone had risen to over 400%. It is argued that alcohol was less easily obtainable before prohibition since the bootlegging industry was so immense. You could now purchase alcohol on almost any street in America, because it was being made and sold everywhere (Nash “Organized Crime in the 1920's and

After the Volstead Act, a law that banned the making, transporting, and selling of alcohol in America, became law in January of 1920, It saw a fall in the consumption of alcohol and the rise of crime and the intolerant nature of America’s society in the twenties. Organized crime across the country quickly took advantage of Prohibition to supply the parched nation with alcohol in return for millions. Al Capone, one of the most notorious leaders of organized crime and gang in Chicago, built networks of corrupt officials, making around $60 million a year selling alcohol. But Capone wasn’t apart of the only gang that wanted control of the trade. In summary, the feature of gang warfare and violence was common in this period. Overall, the Prohibition law was a complete failure and disaster.

    Prohibition caused gangs and organized crime to thrive in the 1920’s. Big gangsters made fortunes off of bootlegging, or the illegal make and distribution of alcohol, and speakeasies, illegal clubs or bars that sold alcohol. Al Capone of Chicago was one of the most well known gangsters of the time. He made up to $60 million dollars annually bootlegging and running speakeasies

The Prohibition Era was a period of time when the entire nation was expected to be alcohol-free, or “dry”. In January 1919, prohibitionists achieved the ratification of the eighteenth amendment to the constitution, “forbidding the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors.” The activists in the Temperance Movement had lobbied and pushed for this ratification for decades. Temperance activists consisted of women, church members, and employers. The main concern was centered around the idea that liquor made alcoholics and irresponsible people. The widespread support for the liquor ban was reflected in its approval by more

When caught bootlegging liquor you would be issued a fine, this made things alright because everyone was happy, the laws were so hard to enforce that the government was just happy collecting fine money and the bootleggers were happy cause it was a small price to pay for the amount of money they were making. The most ironic thing about prohibition is that it is the major bases for what we call organized crime.

In 1917 was the point in history where Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment to amend the Constitution which stated that it prohibited the export, import, manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States. This law sparked rebellion in American citizens across the nation; many people thought this law violated their right to live by their own standards. The implementation of the 18th amendment created a large number of bootleggers who were able to supply the public with illegal alcohol. Many of these bootleggers became very rich and influential through selling alcohol, gambling and using other methods. The prohibition era allowed for organized crime to flourish and these practices are still used today.

Unlike salons, the speakeasies welcomed women and the women came, thus creating additional customers for alcohol. The speakeasies needed a steady supply of alcoholic beverages, and with no breweries or distillers to supply them, organized crime stepped in to fill the void. Hence, by alcohol becoming illegal, a free market no longer existed, which lead to a restraint of trade. As most, black-market offerings. Illegal liquor offered huge profits as well as heated competition. As with almost all black market offerings, illegal liquor generated huge profits and heated competition. As example, gangsters such as Al Capon gunned down their competition, thus enabling them to have a monopoly on liquor sales. (three changes are needed). In actuality, many gangsters died while defending free enterprise. Capone, once his competition was eliminated, could set the prices as high as he wished since there was no competition in Chicago. In one year, Al Capon made Sixty million dollars in liquor sales alone due to outrageously inflated alcohol prices. With capacious amounts of money earned through the sale of illegal liquor. Capone managed to bribe judges, police, and the important politicians of Chicago. Reportedly, eighty to ninety percent of the city’s police force was on his payroll. Corruption of public officials ran rampant. For example, with the profits Capone earned he was able to insure the election

The making of homemade alcohol, also known as bathtub gin or bootleg alcohol, increased during Prohibition. During prohibition, no one could produce, manufacture, transport, or sell alcohol; so people began making their own, and it wasn’t always the safest thing to drink. People would put any kinds of ingredients in their bootleg alcohol, “bootleg liquor is so concentrated and almost invariably contains other and more deadly poisons than mere ethyl alcohol.” Because no one could produce alcohol, anyone who wanted to could make their own. Homemade alcohol started becoming increasingly popular, and it resulted in many deaths because most of the time it was dangerous to ingest. Deaths because of homemade alcohol started climbing more and more, “the death rate from poisoned liquor was appallingly high throughout the country. In 1925, the national toll was 4,154 as compared to 1,064 in 1920 (Thornton).” Thus, the new trend of homemade alcohol was not a good one. Prohibition influenced this unlawful behavior, and it resulted in an increase of deaths. The approval of the 18th amendment produced many problems that could’ve been

Protestants, urban political progressives, those of old-world religion, and the women’s temperance unions all agreed upon one thing: the outlaw of alcohol consumption in the United States. For many years, these groups all rallied to have this outlaw take place, this outlaw would later be known as Prohibition. In 1913, crusaders gathered in Washington, they marched and demanded change. In “The War on Alcohol” Lisa McGirr states, “Antiliquor crusaders worked to educate the public about the dangers of alcohol through posters, pamphlets, graphs and charts” (19).  Progressives blamed alcohol for many other “dirty” problems such as domestic violence, gambling and prostitution. What was commonly referred to as the Volstead Act (National Prohibition Act) was sent to the states by Congress on December 18,1917, it was passed on October 28,1919, and ratified on January 16, 1919 and the country went dry one year later when the eighteenth amendment went into effect on January 20,1919. Prohibition was a ban on producing, importing, transporting and selling alcohol beverages. While the goal of the ban was to reduce alcohol consumption and clean up the country, what it really did was cause organized crime to skyrocket, detrimentally affect local and national economies and ultimately cause people to drink a more potent alcohol that was far worse for them.

Beginning in the 1830’s, temperance movements began pushing for abstinence from alcohol. The wartime Prohibition Act was passed in 1918 in order to save grain for the war effort. A year later, the 18th amendment was ratified and went into effect on the federal level. This outlaw of alcohol gave rise to an organized network of crime, including gangsters like Al Capone and speakeasies (Kelly). The Prohibition was meant to keep people away from the negative effects of drinking (Esler, Ellis

Illicit production spread, despite many efforts for enforcement. To enforce prohibition, the Volstead Act was enacted in 1917 to carry out the 18th Amendment which ratified and became in effect in 1919. The 18th Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcohol; however, it did not criminalize consumption. This allowed a black market of alcohol to thrive. There was no measurable gains from prohibition, as it removed much of the tax revenue, created organized crime, and led more people to purchase drugs such as opium as substitutes. All in all, prohibition did not achieve the goal to improve America, but instead added more problems that it was intended to prevent. This led to its repeal in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.

With the emergence of prohibition in the 1920’s came the beginning of speakeasies. The underground became the new home for bars across the United States. For most americans breaking the law now became normal and alcohol was available most everywhere, as long as you knew where to find it. For gangsters the ban of alcohol was just money to take advantage of. Speakeasies were what shaped the 1920’s into the what is now considered the “Classic American Era.” while leaving a permanent mark on society.

Clark writes of all these different groups that all had an effect towards the outlawing of the saloons. For example “in the 1880’s the WCTU began a campaigning for state laws which would make scientific temperance instruction mandatory in the public schools.” Clark brings to mind many of these groups who many did not know were political forces leading to the passage of the 18th amendment.

Alcoholic beverages were illegal in the Roaring Twenties, which caused many Americans to develop hidden bars or speakeasies to drink their alcoholic beverages. The number of speakeasies increased tremendously when the Prohibition Act was established. The high number of speakeasies caused organized activity to increase during the Roaring Twenties. “Speakeasies for illicit drinking sprang up, and organized crime activity increased…” (Hutchinson Encyclopedia). Americans during the Roaring Twenties knew that alcohol was

“Prohibition did not achieve its goals. Instead, it added to the problems it was intended to solve.” On 16th January 1920, one of the most common personal habits and customs of American society came to a halt. The eighteenth amendment was implemented, making all importing, exporting, transporting, selling and manufacturing of intoxicating liquors absolutely prohibited. This law was created in the hope of achieving the reduction of alcohol consumption, which in turn would reduce: crime, poverty,