What Was The Social And Ethnic Makeup Of The Prohibition Movement

The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which banned the manufacture, transportation and auction of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a menstruum in American history known as Prohibition. Prohibition was ratified by the states on January 16, 1919 and officially went into issue on January 17, 1920, with the passage of the Volstead Act. Despite the new legislation, Prohibition was hard to enforce. The increment of the illegal production and sale of liquor (known as "bootlegging"), the proliferation of speakeasies (illegal drinking spots) and the accompanying rising in gang violence and other crimes led to waning support for Prohibition by the end of the 1920s. In early 1933, Congress adopted a resolution proposing a 21st Amendment to the Constitution that would repeal the 18th. The 21st Amendment was ratified on Dec v, 1933, catastrophe Prohibition.

Origins of Prohibition

In the 1820s and '30s, a wave of religious revivalism swept the United States, leading to increased calls for temperance, every bit well every bit other "perfectionist" movements such every bit the abolitionist move to stop slavery. In 1838, the country of Massachusetts passed a temperance constabulary banning the sale of spirits in less than xv-gallon quantities; though the law was repealed 2 years later on, it set a precedent for such legislation. Maine passed the beginning state prohibition laws in 1846, followed by a stricter police force in 1851. A number of other states had followed arrange past the time the Civil War began in 1861.

By the turn of the century, temperance societies were a common fixture in communities across the United States. Women played a strong role in the temperance movement, equally booze was seen as a destructive forcefulness in families and marriages. In 1906, a new moving ridge of attacks began on the sale of liquor, led by the Anti-Saloon League (established in 1893) and driven by a reaction to urban growth, equally well as the rise of evangelical Protestantism and its view of saloon culture as corrupt and ungodly. In addition, many manufacturing plant owners supported prohibition in their desire to forestall accidents and increment the efficiency of their workers in an era of increased industrial production and extended working hours.

READ MORE: See All the Crafty Ways Americans Hid Alcohol During Prohibition

Passage of the Prohibition Amendment

In 1917, later the United States entered World War I, President Woodrow Wilson instituted a temporary wartime prohibition in social club to save grain for producing food. That same yr, Congress submitted the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors, for state ratification. Though Congress had stipulated a seven-year time limit for the procedure, the amendment received the support of the necessary three-quarters of U.S. states in just 11 months.

Ratified on January 16, 1919, the 18th Amendment went into effect a year after, by which time no fewer than 33 states had already enacted their ain prohibition legislation. In October 1919, Congress put along the National Prohibition Act, which provided guidelines for the federal enforcement of Prohibition. Championed by Representative Andrew Volstead of Minnesota, the chairman of the House Judiciary Commission, the legislation was more commonly known as the Volstead Deed.

Coil to Continue

Enforcement of Prohibition

Both federal and local regime struggled to enforce Prohibition over the class of the 1920s. Enforcement was initially assigned to the Internal Acquirement Service (IRS), and was later transferred to the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prohibition, or Prohibition Bureau. In full general, Prohibition was enforced much more strongly in areas where the population was sympathetic to the legislation–mainly rural areas and pocket-size towns–and much more loosely in urban areas. Despite very early signs of success, including a reject in arrests for drunkenness and a reported 30 percent drop in alcohol consumption, those who wanted to continue drinking plant ever-more inventive means to do it. The illegal manufacturing and auction of liquor (known as "bootlegging") went on throughout the decade, along with the operation of "speakeasies" (stores or nightclubs selling alcohol), the smuggling of alcohol beyond state lines and the breezy production of liquor ("moonshine" or "bathtub gin") in private homes.

In improver, the Prohibition era encouraged the rise of criminal activity associated with bootlegging. The almost notorious example was the Chicago gangster Al Capone, who earned a staggering $sixty million annually from homemade operations and speakeasies. Such illegal operations fueled a corresponding ascension in gang violence, including the St. Valentine'due south Mean solar day Massacre in Chicago in 1929, in which several men dressed as policemen (and believed to be have associated with Capone) shot and killed a group of men in an enemy gang.

Al Capone and Prohibition

Prohibition Comes to an Cease

The high cost of bootleg liquor meant that the nation'south working course and poor were far more than restricted during Prohibition than center or upper grade Americans. Fifty-fifty equally costs for police force enforcement, jails and prisons spiraled upward, back up for Prohibition was waning by the cease of the 1920s. In addition, fundamentalist and nativist forces had gained more control over the temperance movement, alienating its more moderate members.

With the country mired in the Slap-up Low by 1932, creating jobs and revenue past legalizing the liquor industry had an undeniable appeal. Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for president that year on a platform calling for Prohibition's repeal, and easily won victory over the incumbent President Herbert Hoover. FDR's victory meant the finish for Prohibition, and in February 1933 Congress adopted a resolution proposing a 21st Amendment to the Constitution that would repeal the 18th. The amendment was submitted to the states, and in December 1933 Utah provided the 36th and final necessary vote for ratification. Though a few states continued to prohibit alcohol afterward Prohibition'due south end, all had abandoned the ban by 1966.