Notes

Well now, we've already talked about the social change going on in the '20s. And we talked about temperance. So let's take a look at our lesson question. How did Prohibition and the changing role of religion affect American life during the 1920s? Well, we're going to be talking about the social changes that are occurring in the '20s, and the first of these is Prohibition. Now remember, you've already learned about temperance and how many people were pressing for a new ban on alcohol. And Prohibition is when that actually occurred. So let's take a look and find out how this constitutional amendment banning alcohol was passed in America.

Now remember, prohibition was born out of the Temperance Movement of the early 1800s. And alcohol related problems continued to grow after the turn of the century. So what starts to happen is many people began to call for prohibition, a complete ban on the selling, manufacturing, or drinking of alcoholic beverages. They argue that prohibition would be a noble experiment that would help America fix many of its social problems. Now, remember, this is the era of progressivism. And during this era, people are trying to fix those social problems, and they felt this would be one more tool that would help America become a better place to live and better society. So, let's take a look at the competing views on prohibition.

Now remember, many people in favor of prohibition were Progressives, and they believed, again, that it would help society solve its social problems. It would reinforce morality in America, making people live more moral lives. However, those against felt that prohibition would infringe on people's individual rights. They said that the government had no right to tell people that they couldn't drink alcohol. They also pointed out that it would harm American businesses. Now, think about this. Think about the people that are involved in the alcohol business. Those involved in manufacturing alcohol, distributing it, or selling it, saloon owners and bar owners would all be put out of business. And many people felt that this was unfair, so they didn't support this movement.

Well, prohibition got a big boost with the formation of a new organization called the Anti-Saloon League. Now this organization had one goal, and that was to pass a constitutional amendment that outlawed alcohol across the United States. Now it did this by working with various groups that shared its goals. It didn't matter if they were Democrat or Republican.

If you were willing to support a ban on alcohol, this group would embrace you. It also got a boost with the start of War I. They launched a propaganda campaign that successfully linked drinking and beer-making with Germany. And as you may recall that during World War I, Germany was America's enemy. So they started out saying that if you drank alcohol, you were supporting the enemy in World War I. And this campaign was very, very successful.-- so successful, in fact, that politicians were afraid to speak out against it. Now prohibition got one more boost, and that was the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment. Now the Sixteenth Amendment imposed a graduated income tax.

But before income taxes, the federal government was dependent upon liquor taxes for funding for tax dollars. And this made many leaders reluctant to support prohibition. However in 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment instead provided that alternate source of income. People would pay taxes on what they made at their jobs. And this would decrease the need for liquor taxes for the government. It gave the government an alternate source of income, and it made more politicians willing to support prohibition. So finally, the prohibitionists were successful. The Eighteenth Amendment banned the making, trading, and transportation of alcohol.

Now one way to remember the Eighteenth Amendment is that when you turn 18, you become an adult. You can go out on your own. You can get a job. You can even join the military. But one thing you cannot do is drink alcohol. So that's one way to remember which Amendment instituted prohibition.

Now the Eighteenth Amendment basically banned alcohol, but the government still had to explain how that law would be enforced and put into effect. And that was the Volstead Act. So let's take a look at the Volstead Act. It instituted prohibition in 1920. And it determined what it meant for prohibition to occur.

So for example, the 18th Amendment said that the sale of intoxicating beverages was prohibited. But the Volstead Act actually defined what an intoxicating liquor was. It was any drink that contained more than 0.5% alcohol. It assigned the enforcement of prohibition to the Department of the Treasury and the Attorney General. And it created punishments that ranged from fines to jail sentences. Now here's the big thing you need to remember about prohibition and about the Volstead Act. It banned the manufacture of alcohol. It banned the sale of alcohol. And it banned the transportation of alcohol. What it did not ban was the drinking of alcohol.

So it was still legal to drink it. It was just not legal to sell it. So you can see why this would cause problems. And we're going to be taking a look at those problems later in this lesson.

Well, you already know the reasons behind the passage of Prohibition and you now know that the 18th Amendment and Volstead Act made the manufacture and sale of alcohol here in the United States illegal across the country. Let's take look at our lesson question-- it says, "How did Prohibition affect American life in the 1920s?" In this next segment, we're going to take a look at the consequences of prohibition.

Now remember, the Eighteenth Amendment and Volstead Act outlawed been making, selling, trading, and transportation of alcohol. However, it left some important loopholes. First, alcohol was still legal to drink. Alcohol could still be sold and used for medicinal purposes. And many Americans chose to ignore the law and made their own alcohol at home. So let's take a look at this excerpt from a popular rhyme. It says, "Mother's in the kitchen washing out the jugs. Sister's in the pantry bottling the suds. Father's in the cellar mixing up the hops. Johnny's on the front porch looking for the cops." OK now this is kind of funny, but it shows you the attitude that people had towards Prohibition.

First we have all kinds of activities that are included in making alcohol-- washing the jugs you're going to store it in. Bottling the suds. And suds is another name that people use for beer. Beer is made using hops. And you can see here Johnny's on the front porch looking for the cops to make sure that the family isn't caught.

So this really gives you an idea of how Americans felt about alcohol and about Prohibition during this era.

Now, one of the interesting things about prohibition is how such a large proportion of the American population chose to ignore the law. Now, this is probably something you're familiar with, perhaps in your own community. No doubt, you've been driving and see people speeding, even though the speed limit is clearly posted. Many states and areas have also passed laws that make it illegal to text while driving. And yet you probably know people who choose to ignore this law, as well. So why do you think people choose to ignore the law? Is it because they think it's unfair, or they think they won't actually hurt anyone? Well, just as people who text and drive often end up hurting themselves or other people, we also see similar things happen in the '20s, with people who choose to ignore the law. So let's take a look at some of those unintended consequences. Well, the first is a rise in crime. Even though the production of alcohol was illegal, it didn't stop people from producing alcohol. And these people were known as bootleggers. They were the makers or smugglers of illegal alcohol.

It also didn't stop people from drinking it. Many people would visit a speakeasy, or an illegal bar where alcohol was sold, in order to drink. Now, speakeasies got their name from, you have to talk quietly about it, so a law enforcement official will not overhear. So you speak easy about it. Another important consequence was corruption.

During police raids, police officers would arrive unannounced. They would arrest anyone who was on the premises. And they would often destroy any alcohol that they found. You can see here a photo that shows a car that has gotten into a chase with a police officer. And it's gotten wrecked. And there are some cases of alcohol, lying off to the side. The problem was that there was a lot of money to be made in the illegal selling of alcohol. And as a result, there's was lot of money to bribe police officers with. And so many police officers took those bribes to look the other way. Now, one of the most notorious figures during probation was a gangster by the name of Al Capone, who was notorious for the number of police officers, both federal officials and local officials, on his payroll. He was, of course, the most famous prohibition era gangster. And he created what was called an empire of vice, in the city of Chicago. Now, a vice is any kind of activity that's bad for you.

So of course, that would include drinking alcohol. Now, he actually began as a bootlegger. But his boss was killed. And when his boss died, he took over the operation and turned it into a multimillion dollar empire. He not only when ran smuggling operations for alcohol, but also illegal gambling houses, speakeasies, and in fact, a vast spy network, including both members of the Chicago police force, as well as federal officials. Now, he also ordered attacks on rival bootleggers and gangs. He was known for his use of murder to get rid of his competition. And when he was finally put away, in 1931, it wasn't for selling alcohol or murder. Instead, it was for tax evasion because he failed to pay taxes on his estimated $100 million income every year. So let's take a look at another important indicator of what's going on, during this time period. And these are homicide rates. Now, whenever we look at a rate, we're looking at not a percentage. But it's a rate per group of people.

So in this case, we're looking at the homicide rate per 100,000 people. So what that means is, in 1919, about 7.2, 7.3 people out of every 100,000 were murdered. So in a big city with a million people, you could see that about 73 people would be murdered. So you just take the number of people in the city and multiply it times the rate, to figure out exactly how many is we see this trend of it rising. So as prohibition goes on, and as crime increases, we see this rate increase. So in 1933, the homicide rate is closer to 10 out of every 100,000 people. So you see, for every million people, that would dramatically increase the number of people that were actually killed. So this is just one indicator of the type of crime that we're seeing occurring in the 1920s, as a result of prohibition.

Well by 1933 it was apparent to most Americans that the Noble Experiment had failed. Prohibition didn't bring about all these great social changes that people were expecting, instead it brought increased crime and corruption. So Prohibition comes to an end in 1933. A new constitutional amendment was passed, the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and alcohol became legal again in America. Now a great way to remember this one is the Twenty-first Amendment, when you turn 21 in most places in the United States you are allowed to drink legally. So that's one way to remember that the Twenty-first Amendment also ended prohibition.

Well, remember, one group that was in favor of prohibition were those who were deeply religious, who felt that America was losing its way. They believed that prohibition would help return morality to America. Well you now know that those consequences did not occur. Instead, we saw more crime and corruption in America during this time.

However, those religious conservatives were not willing to give up the fight. Instead, they turned their attention to another issue, the teaching of evolution in schools. And in this assignment, we'll be looking at the second half of our lesson question to see how religion affected American life during the 1920s. And we'll do this through the study of a trial in Tennessee.

So here, let's learn about the Scopes trial.

TEACHER: Well in the 1920s, many Americans are worried that the country has lost its way. So we start to see a revival amongst those who are resisting change because they believe it to be immoral. And one of these issues came to a head with the teaching of evolution. It occurred in a trial in Tennessee and it's called the Scopes Trial.

So in 1925, Tennessee schoolteacher by the name of John Scopes broke the law in Tennessee by teaching about evolution. And two famous lawyers tried his case. The first was William Jennings Bryan and he ran for president. He was the populist candidate in 1888. He argued against Scopes while Clarence Darrow, another famous attorney, defended Scopes. So what was this trial all about? Well the debate over Darwin's theory of evolution was very, very divisive. Americans were not agreed on the validity of the theory at that time. It was every bit as divisive as the debate over prohibition.

One side wanted evolution to be taught in schools. They said it was scientific fact. The other side said no it wasn't a fact, it was simply a theory, it hadn't been proven yet. And they also opposed any content that went against biblical teachings. So what we start to see happen is many states in the country pass laws prohibiting the teaching of evolution in schools. And one of those was Tennessee. Their law was called the Butler act and this is the law that John Scopes had broken and this is why he was being put on trial.

Well, the trial turned into a circus and a media event. Thousands of people poured into the city, many of them spectators hoping to snag a seat in the courtroom. And even a radio journalist broadcast live updates to people around the nation. By the time it was all over, however, Scopes changed his plea to guilty and accepted a $100 fine. But the teaching of evolution in schools, and that debate, continued in America. The scientific evidence behind the Theory of Evolution had been made public, and the debate over the teaching of that theory in American schools continued. However, in 1967, the Supreme Court declared the Butler Act to be unconstitutional and overturned that laws area. It's really easy to share with others.