The United States Prohibition of Alcohol

The prohibition of alcohol caused quite a dispute in the 1920's. The prohibition movement was marked with saloons, drunkenness, and a society of increasing alcohol consumption. America was starting to change some of their social habits, this brought on the passage of the Eighteenth amendment. The 18th amendment was passed on Jan 16, 1919, it said in Title II, Section 3 the National Prohibition Act states that No person shall on or after the date when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States goes into effect, manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized in this act. (United States constitution). As the new law was established, there was a problem of getting Americans to obey the law. Throughout the temperance movement, numerous leaders came forth on both sides of the war against and for prohibition. In the Greater Appalachia region of the United States bootleggers illegally continued to traffic alcohol. The American nation of Yankeedom was greatly affected by the Prohibition era as well.

In Both of these American regional culture's prohibitions had significant impact on them in many ways. The region of America known as the Greater Appalachia had many ties with prohibition. Prohibition was an early attempt to slow down the alcohol consumption of Americans, but it only succeeded in making Americans even more determined to drink. Whether by outright ignoring the law of the land or coming up with their own ways of producing alcohol, in parts of the country such as the Greater Appalachia they prided themselves in doing things their own way. For most of the people in the South, Prohibition was an ugly reminder of the federal government once again throwing its weight around where it wasn't welcome. The Civil War had come to a bloody (and ultimately humiliating) end only 55 years prior, and when the law came down that making, selling, and transporting alcohol was no longer allowed, it was a law that was at best ignored and outright rejected. The production of alcohol has been a strong tradition in the Southern Appalachian Mountains for many years. It was a prime source of income for generations of mountain people. Historically, it has been one of the few ways to earn cash in the mountainous economy.

Many of the people are descended from the Scotch-Irish, who already had traditions of home-brewing whiskey. Much of the region has also been historically isolated from the law. Even before alcohol was banned during Prohibition in the 1920s, it has been a cultural root for these folks. When it became banned, this made it where there were now huge amounts of money to be made in illegal brewing. Stills worked overtime to fill the orders that poured in. The Alcohol made in the Greater Appalachia was often shipped to Chicago and other big cities to supply the bootleggers in Yankeedom. There has been thought that moonshining during this period was the origin of stock-car racing. It is said that Bootleggers would race each other to parts of Chicago. Prohibition was followed by the Great Depression. For many in the mountains, there was simply no way outside of moonshining to earn any cash. Prohibition made it where the Greater Appalachian mountain folks got outside of there little isolated cabins and began to interact with other people like in N.Y and Chicago because of the profit they could make. With this being said prohibition enforced new values, but yet kept the strong cultural roots of the Appalachian people.

In Americas nation Yankeedom Prohibition would turn out to have an impact on a mass quantity of people. Many of the people would be affected through corruption of organized crime, politics, and wealth. Prohibition caused a massive demand of people wanting to buy alcohol. Therefore, organized crime was established, allowing men such as Al Capone to capitalize in these big Yankeedom cities. Once these organized crime families were formed, they were the main contributors of the illegal Bootlegging of alcohol. This brought a great deal of violent crimes to these cities, and also many gangsters. Theses gangs grew tremendously throughout the cities, mainly because of the revenue they were bringing in. This income started to have a great influence on the amount of corruption that was going on, and the amount of people that Capone and others could pay off. They would pay police to turn their heads and they were never able to convict them with the numerous crimes they had committed. Even with all these crimes there were only a few occasions where he was arrested, and was always released due to Lack of evidence. Prohibition also led to widespread corruption of public officials by the organized crime that was happening.

All of this wrongdoing changed how theses Yankeedom cities maneuvered and became a haven for crime and illegal activities. Those behind Prohibition saw a ban on the sale of intoxicating liquors as a crusade against a moral evil, but the big winners were Al Capone and the mob. In conclusion, prohibition greatly affected the way both the Greater Appalachia and Yankeedom regions of America operated in many ways. Mainly from all of the activities that spawned from it. Both nations interacted with prohibition in the same way, which was illegally. They seen that there was a substantial amount of money to be made from Bootlegging alcohol. In which the Greater Appalachia folks made the alcohol, and the mobs of Yankeedom bought and distributed it. All in All, both of these nations took their cultural roots and what knowledge they had from them to use prohibition in an effort to gain wealth. Despite the failures of prohibition, it really did change American Society, and the country's drinking habits forever.

Cite this page