New Ways of LifeProhibition: the ban on the manufacture, sale &

transportation of liquor anywhere in the U.S. (January 1920)

“The slums will soon be only a memory. We will turn our prisons

into factories ... Men will walk upright…women will smile &

children will laugh” –Preacher Billy Sunday

Prohibition

• Woman’s Christian Temperance Union had worked to ban alcoholic beverages for nearly a century

• 18th Amendment (January 1919) took a year to finally go into action• In the 1920s, alcohol abuse was a serious problem & there

was hope the ban would help

Evading the Law

• Many Americans found ways to get around the law• People made their own booze at home• Many smuggled liquor in from Canada/ Caribbean• Smugglers were known as bootleggers as they often hid

bottles of liquor in their boots

Evading the Law• Speak-easies: illegal bars which opened in

nearly every city & town – Often made drinking liquor more popular than ever– To enforce the band, gov’t sent out federal

Prohibition agents known as G-men who travelled across the U.S. shutting down speak-easies, breaking up illegal stills & stopping smugglers

Organized Crime• Prohibition gave a huge boost to organized crime• Every speak-easy needed a steady supply of liquor• Professional criminals or gangsters took over this job• Bootleggers earned big $$ so crime became a big

business• Gangsters divided up cities & forced speak-easy

owners in their territories to buy their liquor• Gangsters would use profits to bribe cops, public

officials & judges

Repeal of Prohibition

• Americans began to think Prohibition was a mistake• The ban reduced drinking, but never stopped it• By the end of the decade, many Americans were calling for the

repeal: cancellation of Prohibition• 1933—21st Amendment : repeals the 18th Amendment

– (only constitutional amend. that’s ever been repealed)

Your Turn!!!• This is a shorter unit with more basic ideas• It’s less dense than previous units• Use that to your advantage!!!• Practice those reading/ comp. skills