Model T Installment Plans Prohibition Scofflaws Speakeasies The Roaring 20’s Model T Installment Plans Prohibition Scofflaws Speakeasies
Proposed Laws Regulating Social Behavior
Growth of Cities A reported 2 million people leaving farms for the cities each year. “Cities were the place to be”
Night Life Movie Theaters Vaudeville Houses Drinking Gambling Casual Dating City behavior considered shocking and sinful to those who still lived in small towns.
Case Study: Prohibition PBS: Prohibition
Prohibition The Women’s Christian Temperance Union and The Anti-Saloon League January 1920: 18th Amendment launches The “Prohibition Experiment” Manufacture, Sale, and Transportation of Alcohol were legally prohibited Caused corruption, crime, abuse, accidents, bankruptcy, and social problems
Loopholes After WWI Americans did not want to give up drinking The Volstead Act set up a Prohibition Bureau Underfunded Impossible to enforce. Alcohol allowed for medicinal and religious purposes: Prescriptions skyrocketed!! People distilled their own alcohol Bootleggers: Smugglers carrying alcohol in their boots.
Speakeasies Hidden underground saloons and nightclubs Speak easy (softly) to avoid detection Found everywhere from penthouses to office buildings and the back of grocery stores. Needed a card/ password to enter Fashionable men and women filled the inside
Organized Crime “evading the law and making a mock of it…has become a sort of national sport” H.L. Mencken Led to organized crime in major cities Chicago: Al Capone: Gangster who established a bootlegging empire that made over $60 million a year by killing off his competition. 522 killings in 1 year
Cause/Effect We will complete this cause and effect chart as a class and then you will be responsible for answering the question below: Was the “Prohibition Experiment” successful? Did it alleviate the initial problems regarding alcohol? Sentence Starters: The Prohibition Experiment failed because… Although Prohibition benefited … it led to…