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Prohibition was the period from 1920 to 1933 when the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages was banned in the United States. It was introduced by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and enforced through the Volstead Act. This lesson explores why Prohibition was introduced, how it was enforced, why it failed, and the rise of organised crime that accompanied it.
The campaign to ban alcohol had been growing since the late nineteenth century. Several groups and factors pushed for its introduction.
| Factor | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Temperance movement | Groups like the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) had campaigned against alcohol for decades |
| Religious groups | Many Protestant Christians saw alcohol as sinful and a cause of moral decay |
| Social problems | Alcohol was blamed for domestic violence, poverty, crime, and family breakdown |
| Wartime patriotism | During WWI, it was seen as unpatriotic to waste grain on brewing beer, especially when many breweries were owned by German-Americans |
| Rural vs Urban divide | Rural, conservative America saw alcohol as a symbol of the corrupt, immigrant-dominated cities |
Exam Tip: Remember the mnemonic TRSWW (Temperance, Religion, Social problems, Wartime patriotism, Women's groups) for recalling the reasons behind Prohibition.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1917 | 18th Amendment passed by Congress |
| January 1920 | 18th Amendment ratified; Prohibition begins |
| 1920 | Volstead Act defines enforcement procedures |
| 1925 | There are an estimated 100,000 speakeasies in New York City alone |
| 1929 | St Valentine's Day Massacre |
| December 1933 | 21st Amendment repeals Prohibition |
The Volstead Act gave the federal government the power to enforce Prohibition. However, enforcement proved extremely difficult.
Prohibition created an enormous opportunity for criminal gangs. The most notorious gangster was Al Capone, who controlled the illegal alcohol trade in Chicago.
| Key Figure | Role |
|---|---|
| Al Capone | Controlled bootlegging, speakeasies, and gambling in Chicago. Earned an estimated $60 million per year from alcohol alone |
| Bugs Moran | Led the North Side Gang, Capone's main rival in Chicago |
| Lucky Luciano | Powerful New York gangster who helped organise national crime networks |
Seven members of Bugs Moran's gang were murdered in a warehouse in Chicago, almost certainly on the orders of Al Capone. The killers disguised themselves as police officers. This event shocked the nation and highlighted the violence of organised crime.
Exam Tip: The St Valentine's Day Massacre is a key event to reference when discussing the failure of Prohibition. It demonstrates how the ban on alcohol led to increased violence and the growth of powerful criminal organisations.
| Reason | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Impossible to enforce | The country was too large, and there were too few agents |
| Widespread evasion | Millions of Americans continued to drink, showing the law was unenforceable |
| Corruption | Police, judges, and politicians were bribed by gangsters |
| Organised crime | Prohibition made criminals rich and powerful, increasing violence |
| Economic arguments | During the Great Depression, the government needed the tax revenue that alcohol sales would generate |
| Public opinion shifted | By the early 1930s, most Americans wanted Prohibition repealed |
In 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment. President Franklin D. Roosevelt supported repeal, famously saying, "I think this would be a good time for a beer." Prohibition remains the only constitutional amendment to have been repealed.
A typical Q2 might ask: Explain the significance of organised crime during the Prohibition era. A high-level response should frame organised crime not as a side-effect of Prohibition but as one of its defining historical legacies. The significance begins with scale: by the mid-1920s Al Capone's Chicago Outfit was estimated to be earning around $60 million a year from bootlegging alone, with further income from gambling, prostitution and labour racketeering — turnover that rivalled major legitimate corporations. This wealth mattered because it translated directly into political and judicial corruption. Capone boasted that he owned the mayor of Chicago, "Big Bill" Thompson, and police, aldermen and state prosecutors were routinely bribed, hollowing out democratic accountability in the nation's second city. The significance extends to violence: the St Valentine's Day Massacre of 14 February 1929, in which seven members of the North Side Gang led by Bugs Moran were machine-gunned in a Lincoln Park garage by men disguised as police officers, shocked the nation precisely because it showed that gangland wars were now being fought with military weapons in broad daylight. Beyond Chicago, the significance is structural. Figures such as Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Meyer Lansky in New York used Prohibition profits to build the "Commission" system that organised the American Mafia into a coordinated national network from 1931. When repeal came in 1933, organised crime did not disappear; it diversified into narcotics, labour unions, gambling and, later, Las Vegas. The significance of Prohibition-era organised crime is therefore that it entrenched a structure of illegal enterprise that outlasted the law that created it by decades.
Consider: "Prohibition was a failure." How far do you agree?
A Grade 4 response operates at the simple-to-developed level. It will describe Prohibition as a ban on alcohol, mention Al Capone and speakeasies, and conclude that "it failed because people kept drinking." Evidence is correct but limited and used to illustrate rather than argue. The candidate may misuse dates, conflating the 18th Amendment (1920) with the Volstead Act or the repeal date.
A Grade 6 response sits in the developed-to-complex band. It identifies multiple strands of failure — enforcement (only around 1,500 federal agents for the whole country, a 29,000 km coastline), organised crime, corruption, public defiance — and at least one strand of limited success (alcohol consumption did fall in the early 1920s; cirrhosis of the liver declined; some working-class families benefited from reduced drinking). The judgement is reasoned but often treats "success" and "failure" as parallel lists.
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