The Prohibition Party was formed in 1869 (In Michigan) and its main concern was the rapid growth of the liquor business (Rose 73). Strong Prohibition movements were formed. The different protests ranged, many movements formed on College campuses and by 1893 about 146 colleges had formed anti-alcohol movements (Rebman 13).
In the early 1800’s women formed small individual organizations which came together and declared war on alcohol and showed their support for the Prohibition party. The women fought for the abolition of liquor because their husbands spent most or usually all of their wages on alcohol and left their families in poverty. Many women were mistreated by their husbands who abused alcohol consumption (Rebman 15). Women used different tactics to prevent liquor sales, they both pleaded Saloon owners to stop their selling and used violence to show their protests (Rebman 15).
European immigrants on the other hand did not understand why Americans were creating such a commotion over liquor. In Europe alcoholic substances were basic every day beverages which were consumed without any problems (Rebman 17).
In then end the women movements however, did gain some results. Their protests closed an estimate of 25,000 drinking facilities across the country (before the separate feminine organizations lost their power) (Hill 12). One of the well known organizations was formed in 1874 named The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and was led by Frances E. Willard. This Union united all the individual women’s protesting groups (Rebman 15). Throughout the 19th century the idea of alcohol being a problem in the country, was addressed in different ways and looked upon with different views, of indifference, support, or opposition. The women of the 1800’s gave much attention to the growing problem of alcohol abuse.
The alcohol problem was debated by the National Safety Council at the 1914 annual meeting. Taking into consideration all the negative effects and accidents created by alcohol, the Safety Council was in favor of abolishing the usage of intoxicating substances. The Council pushed its movement forward and tried to appeal mainly to the working class of America (which turned out to be a flawed strategy). There was an equal amount of resentment from the public as there was in fact support for this abolition (Rebman 18). The activists argued since the war was over and the young men were returning from overseas all the money which was previously invested into the army fund, would now be spent on saloons and liquor, and the politicians were pressured with these suggestions and propositions from the public. (Rebman, 19)
In 1917 Congress created the 18 Amendment and had a requirement that it would have to be ratified by 36 States with in the next 7 years in order for the bill to become part of the Constitution. President Woodrow Wilson vetoed the bill almost immediately, however Congress quickly overrode the veto and the act soon became a law Rebman 19). And on January 16, 1919 The 18 Amendment (also known as the Prohibition) was ratified. Exactly one year after the ratification, manufacturing, selling, or transporting liquor would be prohibited and laws would be enforced (AMENDMENT XVIII, sections 1,2). The law would take effect on January 17th, 1920 (Rebman 19).
On October 28, 1919 Congress passed the National Prohibition Act, which was also known as the Volstead act. The Volstead Act specifically listed and explained how the new amendment would be enforced in the country (Rose 275). The act was introduced by Andrew J. Volstead, and was drafted by Wayne Wheeler who developed a hatred for alcohol since his childhood accident, when a drunken farm worker rammed a pitchfork into his leg. Since the incident Wheeler rose to become a manipulative leader of the Anti-Saloon League and was not afraid to use scare tactics to enforce his beliefs, (Rebman 19-20). The Volstead Act explained the regulations and drew the fine line between what intoxicating beverages were allowed and which products were illegal (alcohol percent wise) and the consequences, which followed if the law was broken. For example brewers could produce “near beer” which was beer, which didn’t exceed the maximum of 0.5 percent of alcohol (when normal beer contained 3.7 percent alcohol). If the law was broken people had to pay fines and faced prison charges (Rebman 21).
And so the thirst began. Many Americans became lawbreakers for two simple reasons, they liked to consume alcohol and they believed the government had no power to deny them of this pleasure. The Association against the Prohibition Amendment, compared the annual consumption of 1926 (about the midpoint of Prohibition) with average yearly intake in the period between 1910-1917, concluding that Americans consumed more alcohol under the Prohibition then they did previously. However, other sources suggested that alcohol consummation may have dropped in the early 1920’s but soon quickly gained momentum and more alcohol was being consumed then before the Prohibition (Hill 45). Because of Prohibition alcohol became an illicit good. Liquor was now great moneymaking tool which criminals sought to use. The organized Criminal activity rose and there was a 24% increase in the number of homicides between the years of 1920 and 1921. The number of convicts during the Prohibition increased as well to 561% (Valentine 279). Before Prohibition, criminal gangs made money off of gambling and prostitution (Hill 69), but that changed when alcohol was outlawed. Secret nightclubs called Speakeasies began to open across the country. But too many people knew about these locations, even the police. The Speakeasies remained in business however, because the owners produced monthly payments (bribes). And, the people behind selling alcohol to the Speakeasies were gangsters (also known as “bootleggers”). They too bribed the police in order to continue their businesses (Feinstein 11-12). In order for the Prohibition to work and produce actual results the government wanted to see, the laws had to be fully enforced and because of the bribes they were not. The bribery allowed the Speakeasies owners, the customers, the police, and the gangsters to all benefit from the situation. The gangs killed anybody who stood in their way and acted as if they were invincible and the laws didn’t apply to them. The government averted its eyes from the gangsters and acted as if it didn’t see anything unusual going on (Feinstein 12).
Many significant underworld figures created names for themselves during the 1920’s largely due to “secretive” distribution of alcohol. An important example is John Torrio. He was a powerful mastermind who enjoyed five years as the leader of the strongest gang in Chicago. His idea was to bring all the gangsters (Italian, Polish, and Irish) under one confederation and split the city into different sections assigning different portions to each gang. After being tricked by O’Banion (a notable gangster) into buying a brewery which would soon be raided by police, Torrio killed O’Banion. In 1925 attempts were made to avenge O’Banion’s death and Torrio nearly escaped death. At 43 Torrio retired turned over all of his power to Al Capone (Rebman 48-49). Al Capone became a celebrity. He drove around Chicago in a limousine and was praised by the public for opposing and standing up to law (Rebman 51). Al Capone loved the public and actually supported it as much as he could (created soup kitchens, made generous contributions to hospitals, ect.). However, was also an avid supplier of alcohol to the Speakeasies. But, after being sent to jail and serving a prison sentence he was soon released for good behavior and died in his house from a brain hemorrhage in 1947 (Hill 108-109). Capone was an important gang leader of the 1920’s who made a huge profit from providing Americans with liquor and defying the government by bribing police officers and the authority.
There were hypocritical Politicians who supported the Prohibition yet defied their own beliefs by drinking, as much they wanted. One of the more notorious example is Warren G. Harding (1865-1923) (Hill 112). During his presidency he managed to support the 18th Amendment, yet also host “liquor-soaked” poker gatherings. He was a corrupt political figure. Harding had a likeable person and was described as wanting to befriend everybody which is on of the reasons why he had so many supporters. Most of the white house was aware of Harding’s drinking problems and some people even tried to pressure him to reduce his alcoholic intake. August 2, 1923 Warren Harding died from a brain hemorrhage and passed his presidency to left Calvin Coolidge (Hill 111-114).
The 1920’s in America were a time when people enjoyed life as never before. People went to clubs to dance and enjoy Jazz (a new style of music). Women cut their hair, dressed in more comfortable fashions and shed the images of the “positive stay at home wives”. Instead they went out and experimented with their lives by drinking, smoking, and allowing themselves to do things their husbands did, in other words; “began to live a little”. The idea of consuming alcohol and breaking the rules of society was intriguing to the majority of the American population making alcohol an illegal substance all the more exciting to consume (Bower, Bert 402-404).
The simple idea of not letting people have something, it automatically intrigues them, making them want that something even more.
Prohibition was created to prevent alcohol consumption and create stronger more stable society but instead the solution backfired and created more problems for America. People were upset with the government for making decisions for them and rebounded by drinking even more liquor than before. The gangs made fortunes by providing Speakeasies with liquor and the government was willing to let bribery happen and it gladly supported the Prohibition. The 18th Amendment provided very few positive results in the beginning and for the rest of the Prohibition reign negative outcomes were seen both by the government and the public. The Roaring 20’s was the time to live, experiment, and have no boundaries. A new way of life was introduced and most women embraced being and acting and as the modern woman (also called Flappers)(Feinstein 5). The American public was not ready to give up it’s freedom and instead kept breaking the Prohibition law just to prove that the government had no authority over personal decisions. Government bribery allowed the Prohibition to remain a law for so long and the outlawing of liquor made many (mobs and ganging members) gain social respect and wealth. Even though the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933: “The transportation or importation …delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.” which repealed the eighteenth Amendment and ended the Prohibition (Section 1 & 2, U.S. Constitution) the damage had been done and 13 years of a pointless experiment left the country in a daze. The simple idea of not letting people have something automatically intrigues them, making them want that something even more, Prohibition proving to cause the same reaction of the public. Since people were not capable of buying liquor they brewed it in their own homes, bought it on the black markets, and consumed it at Speakeasies. The 18th Amendment proved to Americans that once again an easy answer to an intriguing, important problem usually proves to bare negative or no results.
Prohibition: An Unsuccessful Experiment
Word Count: 2,418 Words
2.10.11
Works Cited:
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Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2005. Print.
Feinstein, Stephen. The 1920s: from Prohibition to Charles Lindbergh. Berkeley Heights, NJ:
Enslow, 2001. Print.
Hill, Jeff. Prohibition. Detroit: Peter E. Ruffner, 2004
Knowsley Pamphlet Collection. [S.l.]: JSTOR, 2009. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/pss/60100174?searchUrl=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DTemperance%2BMovement%2B%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don&Search=yes>.
Rebman, Renee C. Prohibition. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1999.
Rose, Cynthia. "1920-1929." American Decades Primary Sources. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Print.
United States Constitution
Valentine, Rebecca, and Lawrence W. Baker. Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Detroit: U-X-L, 2007. Print.