The Prohibition Era

The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors. This ushered a period in the American history. This was known as Prohibition. Prohibition was difficult to force during the first decade of the 20th century. Bootlegging is the illegal production and sale of liquor. The increase of bootlegging, speakeasies, and the accompanying rise in gang violence and other crimes led to waning support for Prohibition. In 1933, the Congress had adopted a resolution. They proposed a 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which would repeal the 18th Amendment. The prohibition era came to a close by the end of that year.
Origins of Prohibition began in the 1820’s and 1830’s when a wave of religious revivalism swept the United States, leading to an increase of calls for temperance. As well as other “perfectionist” movements including the abolition of slavery. Massachusetts had passed a temperance law, which banned the sale of spirits in less than fifteen-gallon quantities in 1838. This law was repealed two years later. It had set a precedent for legislation. Maine had passed the first state prohibition law in 1846. A number of states had followed suit by the time the Civil War had begun.
Temperance societies were a common fixture in communities across the US at the turn of the century. Women had a great role in the temperance movement. This was during the time alcohol was seen as a destructive force in not only marriages but families as well. Attacks began on the sale of alcohol in 1906. Led by the Anti-Saloon League that was established in 1893. Driven by a reaction lead to urban growth and the rise of evangelical Protestantism. Many factory owners supported prohibition. This wa...

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... the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929 locating in Chicago. Several men had dressed as policeman, which was believed to be associated with Al Capone. They had shot and killed a group of men in an enemy gang.
Prohibition eventually came to an end. The high prices of bootleg liquor meant that the nation’s working class and the poor were far more restricted during Prohibition. They were more restricted than the middle or upper class citizens. Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for president in 1932 during the Great Depression. He had called for Prohibition’s appeal. He easily won victory over the incumbent President Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt’s victory meant that an end was put on Prohibition. Even though several states continued to prohibit alcohol after Prohibition’s end, all had abandoned the ban by 1966.

Works Cited

http://www.history.com/topics/prohibition