1. Prohibition
17-3

2. Prohibition Reasons to ban alcohol: Reduce unemployment
Reduce domestic violence
Reduce poverty
Increase health
Increase worker productivity/safety

3. Prohibition Eighteenth Amendment—passed in 1920
Volstead Act—U.S. Treasury responsible for enforcing Prohibition
POLICE POWERS (more than enforcing tax laws)
Power to control people/property to protect public safety, health, welfare, morals
Increase in Federal police powers

4. Prohibition Struggle to enforce Prohibition Speakeasies—illegal bars
540,000 arrests, but MANY Americans blatantly ignored the law
Speakeasies—illegal bars
32,000 in NYC
Bootlegging—illegal production/distribution
Prominent in rural areas
Moonshine

5. Organized Crime
Huge profits smuggling liquor from Canada and Caribbean
Gangsters had enough money to corrupt politicians

6. Organized Crime Al Capone Eliot Ness
Police, judges, officials on payroll
Chicago
Eliot Ness
Brought Capone to justice (for tax evasion)
70 feds killed while enforcing Prohibition

7. Prohibition Ends Twenty-First Amendment—(1933) ended Prohibition
Prohibition slightly reduced alcohol consumption, but it didn’t improve society the way those in the temperance movement hoped

8. Write down three laws that affect your personal choice and one individual reason why you think those laws were enacted

9. Possible Answers Smoking in public Physician-assisted suicide
Gay marriage
Medical marijuana
Abortion
Why do these laws exist?
Whose rights are protected, and whose are violated?

10. On the following slide a list of proposed laws regulating personal behavior will be displayed. Review each law in pairs and determine whether or not you agree or disagree with the law and why.
You do not have to agree

11. • In an effort to protect young people from overstimulating their young bodies, the Food and Drug Administration is considering a ban prohibiting children under 18 from buying energy drinks.
• Several city council members are concerned about the increased number of bicycle riders on crowded city streets. They are considering enacting an ordinance that would fine any bicycle rider not wearing a helmet on city streets.
• Concerned that individuals might compromise their health and hoping to avoid black marketeering, the federal government is looking to ban organ donations for profit. No person will be allowed to sell his or her organs to organ banks. People can donate organs only when they are deceased.
• Several members of Congress want to repeal a law that would require households to use only energy-efficient light bulbs instead of traditional incandescent light bulbs.
• Several states are considering repealing laws requiring the wearing of seat belts in motor vehicles.
• A school board is considering a ban on cell phones owing to their suspected link to brain cancer and the disruption they cause in class

12. Why might some people think such laws are needed
Why might some people think such laws are needed? Who might benefit from these laws?
How might any of these laws restrict some people’s rights? Who might be negatively affected by them?
Do you feel these laws benefit the many at the expense of the few, or the other way around? Explain why.
Do you feel these laws should stay as is, be amended, or be repealed? Explain how.