essay facts

Prohibition was meant to reduce the consumption of alcohol, and thereby reduce crime, poverty, death rates, and improve the economy and the quality of life. it did not succeed with this

2

Gangsters became millionaires. Bribery and corruption of law enforcement officers became widespread. Newspapers profiled gangsters' lives and activities on the same pages that featured the Hollywood stars. Low-life thugs, previously looked upon as menaces to society, became public heroes.

20a

Prohibition wasn't successful; people didn't drink as much but it raised crime rates and the hold that organized crime had on major cities

thesis

during the 20s almost everyone drank and it was a habit

1

As soon as liquor became legal, the gangsters who had been supplying it on the sly would no longer be needed. This came as a relief to many Americans who had begun to view crime differently. To them it seemed that something more important than the economy was in shambles—they feared America's morals were in a state of decay. They looked to the new federal government to fight crime and restore respect to law enforcement.

10 a

America's earliest colonists considered liquor a good gift of nature, a necessity of life. Rum was generally present at all community gatherings

11a

people were misusing rum and during the 1870s women started the first temperance movements which promoted the wise use of rum

12a

in 1893 the anti saloon league (ASL) was created and grew nationwide support rapidly from 1907 to 1914 11 states had passed prohibition laws and in 1916 many asl supported congressional candidates won in 1917 the congress had drafted the nationwide prohibition and in 1919 36 of the states had already ratified it

13a

Prohibitionists believed the enforcement of the Volstead Act would be easy and inexpensive. They believed "wets" (anti-Prohibitionists) would obey the law and gracefully accept the inevitability of Prohibition. Their outlook proved quite wrong.

14a

although it was hard to keep track it is estimated that only about a third of adults abstained from drinking after the law was passed

15a

illegal stills in homes across the country. Americans could learn all they needed to know at any library, where books and magazines described methods of distilling alcohol in ordinary kitchens. Stores sprang up selling all the needed supplies. Ready-to-use stills of one- to five-gallon capacity were also sold. by the end of the 1920s organized crime had taken over and some even ran large distilleries

16a

Prohibition did change their drinking habits. Before Prohibition nearly all heavy drinking was done in saloons, restaurants, cafés, and cabarets these places were for men primarily so during prohibition meen and women would simply drink at home

17a

speaks" catered to women as well as men. To enter, all a person had to do was "speak" an "easy" code word or phrase such as "Joe sent me," and the door would be opened. New York City's saloons grew from sixteen thousand before Prohibition to at least thirty-three thousand "speaks" by the early 1920s, If agents raided a "speak" and arrested its bartender, another bartender took over and generally reopened the speakeasy the same night.

18a

In defiance of highly unpopular laws banning alcohol, in the 1920s drinking became a symbol of independence and sophistication. People associated drinking with romance and adventure. Breaking the law had become a national pastime, perhaps even more popular than baseball. Otherwise law-abiding citizens delighted in finding ways to break the law of Prohibition—to them drinking seemed only slightly illegal.

19a

It was clear to most Americans by 1932 that Prohibition would soon end. Prohibition was a social experiment that had failed. Then it created widespread disrespect for the law. Organized crime had become incredibly wealthy. Prohibition overburdened the court system, and it cost massive amounts of money to enforce. And perhaps most important, many Americans believed that the Eighteenth Amendment was an infringement of personal rights.

21a

Furthermore, bootleg alcohol containing poisonous chemicals had caused physical harm, blindness, and sometimes death in over ten thousand people.

22a

Congress to pass a bill legalizing 3.2 percent alcoholic content, so that at least beer could be legally produced. The bill passed and went into effect on April 7, 1933. Over two hundred breweries immediately hired workers and produced real beer. Speakeasies suddenly became legal beer houses. In cities nationwide, parades, sirens, and cowbells marked the first day of legalized beer.

23a

"Prohibition and Crime." Great Depression and the New Deal Reference Library, edited by Allison McNeill, et al., vol. 1: Almanac, UXL, 2003, pp. 249-265. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3425600025/UHIC?u=nysl_ca_beth&sid=UHIC&xid=d228e42f. Accessed 12 Apr. 2021.

24A

More than a million German immigrants came to the U.S. in the second half of the 1800s. And they were beer drinkers.They brought new kinds of brewing yeast. They brought different kinds of brewing methods. And suddenly they produced this lager beer, a kind of very light, crisp brew that became very popular with Americans.

25b

We now have so many breweries in this country we have exceeded the pre-Prohibition number of breweries. We've reached over 5,000 breweries at this point. And so it's truly the golden age of - to be a beer drinker.

26b

"How The Story Of Beer Is The Story Of America." All Things Considered, 3 July 2017. Gale In Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A498296668/MSIC?u=nysl_ca_dmvacces&sid=MSIC&xid=f36f5faa. Accessed 13 Apr. 2021.

27B

When a Massachusetts town banned the sale of alcohol in 1844, an enterprising tavern owner took to charging patrons for the price of seeing a striped pig—the drinks came free with the price of admission.

28c

When Maine passed a strict prohibition law in 1851, the result was not temperance, but resentment among the city's working class and Irish immigrant population. A deadly riot in Portland in 1855 lead to the law's repeal.

29c

The Federal Prohibition Bureau was formulated in order to see that the Volstead Act was enforced. Nevertheless, these laws were flagrantly violated by bootleggers and commoners alike.

3

dry era. When the law went into effect, they expected sales of clothing and household goods to skyrocket. Real estate developers and landlords expected rents to rise as saloons closed and neighborhoods improved. Chewing gum, grape juice, and soft drink companies all expected growth. Theater producers expected new crowds as Americans looked for new ways to entertain themselves without alcohol. None of it came to pass. Restaurants failed, as they could no longer make a profit without legal liquor sales. Theater revenues declined rather than increase, and few of the other economic benefits that had been predicted came to pass.

30c

Before Prohibition, many states relied heavily on excise taxes in liquor sales to fund their budgets. In New York, almost 75% of the state's revenue was derived from liquor taxes. With Prohibition in effect, that revenue was immediately lost. At the national level, Prohibition cost the federal government a total of $11 billion in lost tax revenue, while costing over $300 million to enforce. after this income tax began being used to fund the government going forward

31c

One of the legal exceptions to the Prohibition law was that pharmacists were allowed to dispense whiskey by prescription for any number of ailments, ranging from anxiety to influenza. Bootleggers quickly discovered that running a pharmacy was a perfect front for their trade. As a result, the number of registered pharmacists in New York State tripled during the Prohibition era. since you could also have alcohol for religious purposes self proclaimed rabies rose in numbers and would get wine for there "services"

32c

With a wink and a nod, the American grape industry began selling kits of juice concentrate with warnings not to leave them sitting too long or else they could ferment and turn into wine. Home stills were technically illegal, but Americans found they could purchase them at many hardware stores, while instructions for distilling could be found in public libraries in pamphlets issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The law that was meant to stop Americans from drinking was instead turning many of them into experts on how to make it.

33c

about 1000 americans died every year from drinking tainted alcohol

34c

"Prohibition a Film by Ken Burns and Lee Novick." PBS, kenn burns, www.pbs.org/ kenburns/prohibition/unintended-consequences/.

35C

. With only 1,550 federal agents and over 18,700 miles of vast and virtually unpoliceable coastline. It was clearly impossible to prevent immense quantities of liquor from entering the country.

4

Barely five percent of smuggled liquor was hindered from coming into the country in the 1920s. Furthermore, the illegal liquor business fell under the control of organized gangs, which overpowered most of the authorities.

5

The major crimes, such as homicides, and burglaries, increased 24 percent between 1920 and 1921. In addition, the number of federal convicts over the course of the prohibition period increased 561 percent.

6

The crime rate increased because prohibition destroyed legal jobs, created black-market violence, diverted resources from enforcement of other laws, and increased prices people had to pay for prohibited goods.

7

Large cities were the main location for organized gangs. Although there were over a half dozen powerful gangs in New York, Chicago was the capital of racketeers, including Johnny Torrio, "Bugs Moran", the Gennas, and the O'Banions. The most powerful and infamous bootlegger however, was Al Capone, operating out of Chicago

8

The results of the experiment [prohibition] are clear: ...organized crime grew into an empire; ...disrespect for the law grew; and the per capita consumption of the prohibited substance -- alcohol -- increased dramatically. It is obvious that this "noble experiment" was not so noble but rather a miserable failure on all accounts.

9

"Buffalo Police Then and Now." Buffalo Police Then and Now, www.bpdthenandnow.com/calleabro.html.

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