The Roots Of Prohibition
The United States first anti-alcohol movement swept the nation in the 1830s and 1840s. This initial temperance movement was rooted in America's Protestant churches. As part of this movement in 1869 prohibitionists founded the Prohibition Party,and in 1874, a group of Protestant women established the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Prohibitionist also organized the Anti-Saloon League in 1895. At first they urged moderation,but later demanded that local, state, and national governments prohibit alcohol altogether. Their reasoning for prohibition stemmed from claims that alcohol caused poverty, health problems, and neglect by husbands of their families. They gained support from political reformers who thought of saloons as the backbone of corrupt urban political organizations and employers who felt that drunkenness reduced their workers' safety and productivity. The religious citizens of America believed it was a responsibility of the government to protect them from theses dangers of alcohol. Some other nativist Americans even argued that the large numbers of recent immigrants to the United States would become more "American" if their drinking habits changed.
The Effects Of Prohibition
As shown in the graph below the 18th amendment succeeded in lowering Alcohol consumption rates. However people still found ways around the alcohol ban. This caused a spike in illegal activities as well as organized crime. People went to underground hidden saloons and nightclubs called speakeasies to illegally drink liquor or they bought them from bootleggers who smuggled the liquor in from other their countries. During the late 1920's, more than 1 million gallons (3.8 million liters) of liquor was smuggled into the United States each year from Canada. Some criminals even ran illegal brewery's here in the United States. These kinds of illegal activities became normal and as result people developed a sense of disrespect towards the law. Some physicians even gave their patients prescriptions for legal "medicinal" wine or liquor with total disregard for the law. Bootleggers became very wealthy as illegally trafficking alcohol became more popular. During the late 1920's, more than 1 million gallons (3.8 million liters) of liquor was smuggled into the United States each year from Canada and still Canada wasn't the only country bootleggers smuggled alcohol from. Some bootleggers who were involved in illegal activities prior to Prohibition used the wealth flowing from bootlegging to extend and further develop organized criminal enterprises, some of which later became involved with trafficking in illicit drugs. Criminal activity in Chicago is a perfect example because of Al Capone's notorious crimes. Al Capone took control of the Chicago liquor business and created a bootlegging empire that he sustained by killing off any competition. The law became to mean less and less to the average citizens and in the end neither federal agents nor state and local officials could stop the widespread violation of national Prohibition.