Kasey+Shannon

Temperance Prohibition and Organized Crime The Temperance and Prohibition era was about the banning of alcohol. The 18th amendment stop everything that had to do with alcohol. Its stopped sale, transportation, importing, and exporting of alcohol. This prohibition act took and amendment to enact. It also took an amendment to repeal it. This act lasted from 1920 to 1933. It took place on June 30, 1919. There were many things that effected the prohibition act. Some examples would be crime and World War 1. World War 1 had a effect on the prohibition act in a major way. WW1 caused it was said that food and fuel was need for the war. Therefor, it was said that the grains that were used for alcohol was needed for food for the war. So, they decided to ban alcohol. Another thing that effected the prohibition was crime level. Alcohol was a reason for more and new types of crime. An example of how alcohol caused more crime was the behavior of alcoholics. Alcoholics were characterized as dangerous to themselves and to their families. So, crime was increased when alcoholics would hurt their families because of the amount of alcohol they would consume. Another effect on the prohibition act was churches. The churches would say that drinking alcohol is a sin. So, this had a great effect on the prohibition act. There were some positive and negative things about the 18th amendment. Some positive things were that it would help reduce crime. It also would help out with the health of people. Helping with the help of peoples help means it would stop alcoholics. It also helped with war. It helped out by supplying more food for the soldiers. Some negative things from the prohibition were it created more crime. An example of this is bootlegging. Bootlegging was selling alcohol illegally. This is how it caused more crime. The Anti-Saloon League, the leading organization for National Prohibition in the United States, was a non-partisan political pressure group established in 1893. It was a single-issue lobbying group that had branches across the United States to work with churches in marshaling resources for the prohibition fight. Its primary base of support was among Protestant churches in rural areas and the South (potsdam.ed). The Anti-Saloon League was one of the important groups during the prohibition era. Organized crime was a big part of the prohibition era. Crime was increased and became organized. Because of alcohol becoming illegal gangster really took to illegally selling alcohol, bootlegging. Most of these Gangsters were young immigrants. The business of bootlegging was a very profitable business fro the people involved. In the 1920's over 1 million gallons of illegal alcohol had been imported into the united states. Most of this alcohol was from Canada. A famous person involved in bootlegging was Al Capone. He was a very famous bootlegger. He has his own museum, the Al Capone museum. Capone was the leader of the mobs in Chicago. He was apart of St. Valentines Day Massacre. Other famous people in organized crime were Johnny Torrio, and Bugs Moran. There are many pro and cons of the prohibition era. These things are talked about on this page. Al Capone a very famous bootlegger.