Prohibition

Rory Gallagher
Prohibition
In this video on the prevailing happenings of the prohibition ear; 1920 to 1933 a period of time that forever changed American society. I will be analyzing some of the most distinguishing chapters in its manifestation, such as the enactment of the Volstead Act, rise and fall of the bootlegger, as well as the corruption and lawlessness that became commonplace.
The Volstead act was the next motion for the supporters of a alcohol free union who were not yet satisfied with the 18 Amendment because it did not specifically state what a “intoxicating liquor” was nor state if or how these newly controlled substances could be possessed or used in any legal manner.   The first attempt of total alcohol prohibition also didn’t say what level of alcohol content would be considered illegal which was altered to any substance with more than .5% alcohol content. This new Volstead act became possibly the most un-upheld federal law ever enacted.
Due to the new laws that forbid the sale or possession of distilled spirits an illegal market for liquors began to form at an insatiable rate. In order to combat this new demand a lucrative black market was born and its operator being dubbed the “bootlegger.”   The bootlegger started off as a small operation of individuals who sold illegal spirits that they had distilled themselves and later turned into an unrivaled crime cindicate in which a hand full of men controlled massive amounts of territory where they provided illegal spirits for tens of thousands of people and employed thousands to distribute, keep books on expeditures, and distill alcohol to keep up with the massive demands. However in some areas the greed of some resulted in large scale gang wars over territory because rival bootleggers tried to sell product in the their competitors territory or steal rival shipments of liquor. This level of organized crime created an influx of violence many cities never knew before and started to make people think...