1. Do Now . . . - What is going on in this picture?
- Can the federal government regulate or outlaw things they morally oppose? (Prohibition, drugs guns, etc.) If yes, to what extent?

2. PROHIBITION and GANGSTERS

4. WARTIME PROHIBITION
Originally, the Wartime Prohibition Act was passed to save grains for the war effort
Prohibition made the manufacture, sale, and transportation of “intoxicating liquors” a federal crime

5. 18th AMENDMENT PASSES
The religious groups hoped to ban alcohol and the evils they associated with it.
18th Amendment went into effect in January 1920.

6. VOLSTEAD ACT
Volstead Act is passed to establish an enforcement bureau.
It was tasked with patrolling the 18,700 miles of coastline, monitoring highway traffic, overseeing industries, and tracking illegal equipment.
The job fell upon just 1,500 poorly paid federal officials.

7. BOOTLEGGERS and SPEAKEASIES
War is over, and there is no alcohol?
Immigrants saw alcohol as a social tool, not a sin.
Hidden doorways and staircases often led to underground saloons known as speakeasies.
Al Capone ran over 10,000 speakeasies.

8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RCFUYwzjW U

9. BOOTLEGGERS and SPEAKEASIES
People began learning to distill alcohol on their own.
Bootleggers would sell alcohol smuggled into the city from rural distilleries or other countries.
“The business of evading the law and making a mock of it has ceased to wear any aspects of crime and has become a sort of national sport.”

11. GANGSTERS
Johnny Torrio/Al Capone's bootlegging empire netted over $60 million a year.
In 1929, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre created a strong public sentiment against Prohibition policies.
- “Omertà”
After 13 years, Prohibition was effectively repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.