Prohibition (AQA GCSE History): Revision Notes
Prohibition in America, 1920-1933
What was prohibition?
In January 1920, the American government introduced a groundbreaking law that would dramatically change society. This law, commonly called "Prohibition," was officially known as the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution. The amendment made it illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell alcoholic beverages anywhere in the United States.
Prohibition represented a major victory for temperance campaigners who had been fighting against alcohol for decades. However, it's important to understand that the law had a significant loophole - while it was illegal to make, transport, or sell alcohol, it wasn't actually illegal to buy or drink it. This contradiction would prove to be one of many problems with the policy.
A Critical Loophole in the Law
The 18th Amendment created a strange legal situation: Americans could legally drink alcohol and possess it in their homes, but they couldn't legally buy it from anyone. This contradiction made the law extremely difficult to enforce and created widespread confusion about what was actually legal.
The introduction of Prohibition immediately created what many historians describe as a "divided society." Some Americans supported the ban and believed it would create a better, more moral country, while others saw it as government interference in their personal lives and were determined to continue drinking regardless of the law.
Enforcing the ban
The government faced an enormous challenge in trying to enforce Prohibition across the vast American territory. They employed approximately 1,500 "Prohibition Agents" whose job was to track down illegal alcohol production and sales, then arrest those responsible for breaking the law.
These agents also had the difficult task of stopping smugglers who were bringing alcohol into the country from places like Canada and Mexico. The scale of this challenge was immense - America had around 18,700 miles of border and coastline to patrol. Even though the number of agents doubled between 1920 and 1930, they were still vastly outnumbered by those willing to break the law.
The Impossible Task of Enforcement
To put the enforcement challenge in perspective: each Prohibition Agent was responsible for patrolling approximately 12.5 miles of border and coastline. This made it virtually impossible to prevent smuggling, especially when criminal organisations had significant financial resources to organise sophisticated smuggling operations.
The agents struggled to prevent alcohol from being smuggled in from neighbouring countries, and many Americans found creative ways to continue accessing alcoholic drinks despite the legal restrictions.
The case for prohibition
The movement to ban alcohol had been building for several years before 1920. Campaign groups like the Anti-Saloon League, supported by many churches, had been arguing that alcohol was destroying American society. They believed that drinking led to serious social problems that were harming families and communities across the country.
Prohibition supporters claimed that alcohol consumption caused a decline in moral values and was responsible for various social issues including violence and crime, disorder and drunk driving, poverty and debt, and addiction and illness. They argued that banning alcohol would make America a healthier and more prosperous nation.
Their campaigns were remarkably successful - by the time the national ban was introduced, 33 states had already passed their own local restrictions on alcohol. The new federal law simply made the ban complete and enforced it across the entire country.
Widespread Support for the Ban
The success of the temperance movement shows how persuasive their arguments were to many Americans. With two-thirds of states already having local alcohol restrictions, Prohibition seemed like the natural next step to create a unified national policy.
How people reacted to prohibition
Despite the legal ban, many Americans continued to want alcoholic drinks and were willing to break the law to get them. This demand created opportunities for criminals and led to the growth of illegal businesses throughout the country.
People felt that the government had no right to interfere with their personal drinking habits, and many were prepared to break the law to continue accessing alcohol. This widespread resistance to the law made enforcement extremely difficult and created new forms of criminal activity.
The demand for illegal alcohol attracted criminal gangs who saw an opportunity to make enormous profits. Before Prohibition, gangs had operated illegal drinking establishments called "speakeasies" in basements and hotel rooms. During the 1920s, New York City alone had twice as many speakeasies as it had legal bars before 1920.
The Scale of Illegal Drinking Establishments
New York City provides a striking example of how widespread illegal drinking became. Before Prohibition, the city had approximately 15,000 legal saloons and bars. During the 1920s, it's estimated that there were over 30,000 speakeasies operating in the city - double the number of legal establishments that had existed before the ban.
These illegal establishments obtained their alcohol from "bootleggers" - people who smuggled drinks into the country. They also sold "moonshine," which was strong, home-made alcohol. The problem with moonshine was that it was often dangerous - cases of alcohol poisoning increased by over 700% during Prohibition as people consumed poorly made illegal spirits.
The Deadly Danger of Illegal Alcohol
Moonshine and other illegal alcohols were often made without proper safety measures or quality control. The 700% increase in alcohol poisoning cases during Prohibition shows how desperate people were to drink that they were willing to risk their lives consuming potentially lethal substances.
The rise of organised crime
Prohibition had a devastating unintended consequence - it made criminal gangs incredibly wealthy and powerful. These gangs quickly realised they could make millions of dollars from smuggling and selling illegal alcohol, which gave them the resources to corrupt law enforcement and expand their criminal activities.
Prohibition's Greatest Failure: Empowering Criminal Organizations
Rather than reducing crime as its supporters had hoped, Prohibition actually created a massive new source of criminal income. The enormous profits from illegal alcohol gave criminal gangs unprecedented power and resources, allowing them to corrupt the very system meant to stop them.
With their enormous profits, criminal organisations could afford to bribe police officers and judges to ignore their illegal activities. This corruption meant that even when gangs were caught breaking the law, they often escaped punishment because officials had been paid to look the other way.
The gangs also developed "protection rackets" - they would approach businesses and offer to "protect" them from damage in exchange for regular payments. If business owners refused to pay, the gangs would vandalise or destroy their property. This system allowed criminals to extort money from legitimate businesses while appearing to provide a service.
How Protection Rackets Worked
A typical protection racket would involve gang members visiting a legitimate business owner and explaining that the neighbourhood was "dangerous" and that accidents could happen to unprotected businesses. For a regular payment, the gang would ensure nothing bad happened to the business. This was essentially legalised extortion - the gang was both creating the threat and selling the protection from it.
Because the illegal alcohol trade was so profitable, different criminal gangs began competing for control of territories and customers. This led to violent conflicts between rival groups, resulting in murders, gunfights, and bombings as gangs fought for dominance in the illegal alcohol market.
Many ordinary Americans became frightened of the increasing gang violence and worried about official corruption. However, paradoxically, they often continued to buy alcohol from these same criminal organisations because they still wanted to drink despite the legal ban.
Timeline of prohibition
- 1920: Prohibition begins with the 18th Amendment (January)
- 1920-1930: Number of Prohibition Agents doubles, but enforcement remains difficult
- 1920s: Speakeasies flourish - New York has twice as many as legal bars before 1920
- 1920s: Alcohol poisoning cases increase by over 700%
- 1920s: Criminal gangs make millions from illegal alcohol trade
- 1933: Prohibition ends with the 21st Amendment
Remember!
Key Points to Remember:
- Prohibition (the 18th Amendment) banned the manufacture, transport, and sale of alcohol from January 1920, but not the purchase or consumption of it
- Only 1,500 Prohibition Agents were employed to patrol 18,700 miles of American borders and coastlines, making enforcement nearly impossible
- The Anti-Saloon League and churches campaigned for Prohibition, claiming alcohol caused violence, poverty, and moral decline
- Public resistance led to the growth of speakeasies (illegal bars) and bootlegging (alcohol smuggling), with alcohol poisoning cases rising by over 700%
- Criminal gangs made millions from illegal alcohol, leading to widespread corruption of police and judges, protection rackets, and violent gang warfare that terrorised communities