Prohibition“Volstead Act”

1920-1933

(Temperance)

18th amendment No person shall sell, barter, transport, import,

export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act.

Exceptions: - “near” beer (.05%)- Industrial alcohol- Patent medicines- Sacramental wine- Flavoring extracts- Toilet preparations - Vinegar- Syrups - Dr. prescriptions- Cider (no more than 1 pint/10 days)

Impacts of ProhibitionMOONSHINE: homemade alcohol

BOOTLEGGING: selling illegal / homemade alcohol

SPEAKEASY: a bar that sells homemade / illegal alcohol

Why support the 18th? Regulate people’s behavior by force Better health Increased morality (and religiousness) Solve problems of delinquency Solve problems of poverty, prostitution,

political corruptness

Anti-Saloon League (ASL) & Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

“… an army of the Lord to wipe away the curse of drink."

“Now an era of clear thinking and clean living!”

"Come in and take a drop. The first drop led to other drops. He dropped his position; he dropped his respectability; he dropped his fortune; he dropped his friends; he dropped finally all prospects in this life, and his hopes for eternity; and then came the last drop on the gallows. BEWARE OF THE FIRST DROP.”

A Child’s Promise:

, , I promise not to buy sell or give

;Alcoholic liquors while I live

' From all tobacco I ll abstain

' .And never take God s name in vain

Outcomes of the 18thWho benefited? (2)Politicians – got $ votes for looking other way…

Bootleggers (Gangsters/Club Owners) – owned clubs, $$$$$$

Outcomes of the 18thWho suffered? (3)Politicians – lost $1/2 billion in taxes & respect

Immigrants- blamed, lost culture, jailed

Bar Owners/Alcohol makers- lost jobs

Created disrespect for the law Eroded respect for religion Created organized crime Corrupted law enforcement, courts, & politics Overburdened police Harmed people financially, emotionally,

morally - lost jobs (profession became a crime)

The Effects of the 18th…

Harmed physicallyUnsafe alcohol – blindness,

kidney/liver/brain damageAttacks by mob, police

Changed drinking habits of the countryPublic drinking now commonWomen drinkingHard liquors more popular

Increased cigarette smoking

1922: 5,000 Saloons

1927: 30,000 Speakeasies

CA grape growers produced a grape juice product. It’s literature carefully instructed buyers what

not to do, because, if they did those things, they would have

wine in sixty days. The demand for grape juice grew dramatically.

Owen Standy(Democratic Senator)

“My country ‘tis of thee,Land of grape juice and tea,

Of thee I sing,Land where we all have tried,To break the laws and lied!From every mountain side,

The bootlegs spring.”

Franklin P. Adams(The New York World – Feb. 1931)

Prohibition is an awful flop,

We like it.

It can’t stop what it’s meant to stop,

We like it.

It’s left a trail of graft and slime,

It don’t prohibit worth a dime.

It’s filled our land with vice and crime,

Nevertheless, we’re for it.

Herbert Hoover(President 1929 – 1932)

“Prohibition is a great social and economic experiment — noble in motive and

far-reaching in purpose.”

Andrew J. Volstead(U.S. Senator)

“They can never repeal it.”

In 1933, the 21 st amendment was passed.

It repealed the 18th.

This has been the only amendment in U.S. History to be repealed.

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