Prohibition

The most iconic aspect of the era of the 1920s was prohibition. The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution was passed and would remain in effect from January 1920 to December 1933. The 18th Amendment prohibited the manufacture, distribution, sale, and transportation of alcohol and was described by President Heber Hoover as "a great social and economic experiment". This post will examine major events and figures in the prohibition movement and why the 18th Amendment would eventually be repealed.

Prohibition began as a social and religious movement in the early 19th century and gained popular support in the 1880s and 1890s from reformers who saw alcohol as the leading cause of many social ills such as poverty, crime, political corruption, the rise of urban ghettos, the breakup of families, infant and child mortality, industrial accidents, and more. Groups such as the Prohibition Party, Women's Christian Temperance Union, Anti-Saloon League, and others became powerful driving forces behind the prohibition movement and by 1916, 26 out of the existing 48 states had passed their own prohibition laws.

In a way, the prohibition movement was linked to America's entry into World War I. Prohibition was linked partly to grain conservation and as a way to place limits on German brewers. So, prior to the ratification if the 18th Amendment, limits on alcohol production were used as a war measure but would go on to have a considerable impact on American society in the early 20th century.

The 18th Amendment was adopted by both houses of Congress in December 1917 and was ratified by the necessary two-thirds of the states in January 1919. The 18th Amendment was implemented by the Volstead Act, named for Andrew Volstead who was the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a major proponent of prohibition. Under the Volstead Act, the manufacture, sale, and distribution of "intoxicating liquor" was prohibited; the Act defined "intoxicating liquor" as anything that contained more than one half of one percent alcohol by volume, making an exception for alcohol used for sacramental, industrial, and medicinal purposes. 

As can be imagined, people found numerous ways to skirt around the laws. The same of sacramental wine increased in the early years of prohibition; and doctors were allowed to purchase alcohol for medicinal purposes and for laboratory use. Because the 18th Amendment and Volstead Act didn't outlaw the private possession and consumption of alcohol, Americans continued to demand alcoholic beverages and so gangsters and rum runners stepped up to meet the demands of the public. Speakeasies, illegal drinking dens which often required a password or phrase to get in, became popular locations for people to frequent; these speakeasies were often operated by gangsters. People also skirted the law by producing their own alcohol, often called bathtub gin or moonshine.

Sure to the ease in which people could get around the Volstead Act, enforcement of the prohibition legislations often proved to be difficult. Local law enforcement officers as well as the forces of the (federal) Bureau of Prohibition worked tirelessly to prevent the smuggling of alcohol as well as investigated the illegal production and transportation of alcohol into and around the country as a whole.

As mentioned, gangsters often profited from the running of speakeasies and through the smuggling of alcohol, known commonly as "bootlegging" or "rum running". These gangsters tended to be there children of immigrants or immigrants themselves who arrived in the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Often living in ghettos, these newer Americans turned to crime because it offered a quick route to success and wealth. These crimes were not small scale affairs but rather were organized crime syndicates. Particularly in New York and Chicago, these crime syndicates often competed against one another for control of territory. These rivalries between gangs led to more than 500 gangland killings across the US between 1927 and 1930 alone. 

The most famous gangster of the prohibition era was undoubtedly Al Capone. Capone was known for many tragic murders in and around Chicago, but none of the charges stuck. Instead, he was imprisoned for tax evasion and fraud in 1931. Other notable gangsters of the era included Dutch Schultz, Arthur Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, and Frank Costello. 

Prohibition had a number of effects on the country. It destroyed the brewing industry causing a massive loss in jobs and tax revenue. Prohibition cost millions of dollars to enforce but was difficult to actually enforce because police were often easy to corrupt and were in the pockets of the gangsters. As crime rates rose above where they were prior to prohibition, people began to call for its repeal.

Ratified in December 1933, the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment effectively bringing the prohibition era to an end. Today, prohibition still has a hold on our country as some towns and counties remain "dry" or may have "blue laws" in place, prohibiting the sale of alcohol in those locations on certain days (such as Sundays). 

Next time here on the blog, we're going to be examining questions in constitutionalism and society such as the resurgence of the KKK, the Red Scare, and the Scope's Trial.