1. Prohibition binge drinking Aim: Why was prohibition passed in 1919?

2. What do you think this is about?

3. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution (passed by Congress in 1917), was ratified by 3/4 of states by 1919 and prohibited the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages within the boundaries of the United States. Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. The Volstead Act of 1919, (the National Prohibition Enforcement Act), defined what was meant by an ‘intoxicating liquor’. It clearly defined an alcoholic beverage as one with an alcoholic content greater than 0.5 percent.

4. What does the Source suggest about the reasoning behind Prohibition? (4 marks)

6. Hun (slang for German) Much beer was brewed in Germany

7. MIND MAP??

8. MEDICAL Started to realise that alcohol damaged health Many American men suffered from Sclerosis, Many children fought their lives without their fathers, which led to families’ financial problems. POLITICAL Many votes were won in rural areas because politicians promised prohibition, which helped those politicians to win the election. Women got the vote shortly after the 18 th Amendment had passed. The campaign for female suffrage and prohibition were closely linked. ECONOMIC Many labourers got drunk and so they could not perform the job properly. Absence from work each week was very high, so the company was less efficient. The company could not afford to produce the same products in the time that they should and the industrialists were not satisfied. SOCIAL Husbands were spending their family’s saving on alcohol instead of essentials. It was believed this led to domestic abuse and ultimately divorce. The problem pressurised women the most, therefore they set up the anti- saloon groups. Why was prohibition passed?

9. ANTI-IMMIGRANT FEELING Many people insisted that buying beer meant lining pockets of brewers in Germany. Many immigrant groups were also associated (perhaps unfairly) with alcohol (e.g.German, Irish and Italians). It has been argued that prohibition was partly influenced by the growing hostility to new immigrants WW1 XENOPHOBIA War time hysteria against all things foreign linked prohibition to patriotism. Prohibitionist propaganda characterized the liquor industry as foreign-controlled and pointed out that German-Americans owned and managed many of the nation's breweries. WW1 & GOVT During WWI federal government became more powerful as it took over railroads and factories, passed a conscription act, and curtailed liberty and free speech. Many Americans viewed the federal government as the upholder of American morality, temperance, and sobriety. To some federal government should limit individual freedoms for the sake of higher social responsibilities. PRECEDENTS SET There had been other anti-alcohol campaigns. The Maine Law of 1851, prohibited the manufacture and sale of liquors within the state of Maine. By 1855, 13 states had adopted similar legislation. During the Civil War, the federal government prohibited alcoholic in the Union Army to ration grain. Why was prohibition passed?

10. Who believed in prohibition? Prohibition represented the desires of the Anglo-Saxon establishment. The typical prohibitionist was: A rural or small-town inhabitant Middle class Anglo-Saxon Evangelical Protestant Fearful of African-Americans, immigrants, Jews, and Catholics Prohibitionists had various motivations for campaigning against alcohol. Most believed that drinking liquor was immoral. Others wanted to take away the power of the urban political machines. Still others used the movement as a springboard for their personal political ambitions.

11. Temperance advocates, founded the Scientific Temperance Journal after the Civil War to justify their views. Schoolchildren's textbooks depicted human organs degenerating from an overabundance of drink. In the 1870s, the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) promoted the use of public education for the cause of temperance. By 1902, every state and territory except Arizona had a law requiring temperance instruction in the schools. The prohibitionists also used eugenics--the study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding--to bolster their cause. They argued that immigrants were inferior due to the fact that their children had been drinking since a young age.

12. The "Ladies of Logan" sing hymns in front of bars in aid of the temperance movement In contrast to the WCTU, the Anti-Saloon League, founded in 1896, focused only on the legal prohibition of alcoholic beverages. The League, printed and disseminated anti- drinking brochures, appealed to church members for support, and lobbied both lawmakers and businessmen. The Anti-Saloon League was so persuasive in its lobbying efforts that 28 states had adopted prohibition laws by 1918, before national prohibition went into effect.

13. Key Vocabulary on Prohibition: Anti-Saloon League WW1 Volstead Act Prohibition Agent Izzy Einstein Elliot Ness Less than 23,000 Corruption Bribes Bootleggers 32,000 in New York Speakeasy 21 Club Bathtub gin Moonshine 1926 there were 760 deaths

14. What was the Impact of Prohibition on American Society?

15. Results of Prohibition For the most part, enforcement of the Volstead Act was extraordinarily difficult. Many Americans, for example, enjoyed liquor and were more than willing to break the law to acquire alcoholic beverages. As a result, organized crime and smuggling rings mushroomed and home- brewing of alcohol became increasingly popular. In the end, Anglo-Saxons' efforts to impose its own moral codes on the rest of the nation through Prohibition was a failure and their power continued to decline throughout the 1930s.

17. The 21st Amendment, which was ratified in 1933, repealed the 18th Amendment. Congress called for ratifying conventions in each state. At the completion of delegates' voting, the national count in favor of repeal of the 18th Amendment was 73%.