Prohibition (Amerikaans verbod op alcohol na WOI) Not based on health concerns but enforcing (afdwingen) moral values (waarden) = FAILURE (mislukking)
the government
Many Americans viewed (bekeken) the federal government as the upholder (verdediger) of American values (waarden) and morality (moraliteit).
- the 18th Amendment (amendement: wijziging van een wetsvoorstel) of the Constition (grondwet) passed by Congress (wetgevende instantie van de federale overheid usa) and ratified (erkend) by three-quarters (3/4) of the states by 1919.
- it prohibited (verbood) the manufacture or sale (productie of verkoop) of alcoholic beverages (dranken) in the United States
- The Volstead Act (=wet) of 1919 said that every beverage with an alcoholic content of 0,5% was prohibited. THAT WAS A SURPRISE: because the people only wanted a prohibition on hard liquor (sterke drank), not beer or wine
Consequence
The Volstead Act (law = wet, zie government) was extreme and enforcement (handhaving) was difficult. Many Americans enjoyed liquor and were more than willing to break the law
- result: home-brewing (thuis drank brouwen) became very popular.
- organised crime (georganiseerde misdaad) took over the making and distributing (verdelen) of alcohol and ran secret saloons (geheime café, kroeg) = SPEAKEASIES in most towns and major cities (grote steden)
- to enter these places you spoke the secret code. it was a kind of night club where liquor flowed easily
- soon there was competition amongst the crime gangs in a given area en corruption of officials who looked the other way and visited speakeasies themselves
- men of the government tried to stop this but, although the people did not like the violence of gangsters, they also did not like the destroying of bottles of liquor. they didn't want that police raided (overvallen) their favourite speakeasy
end
the unpopular law became impossible to enforce (handhaven)
- with oncoming (aankomende) depressie of the 1930's (grootste economische crisis van 20ste eeuw)
- and election of Franklin D. Roosevelt
the government had more important things to do than stop people drinking. In the end the Prohibition was a FAILURE. The 21th amendment repealed the 18th in 1933 and marked the end of the American experiment.
Who: liquor industry
Prohibitionist propaganda during war says: liquor industry = foreign-controlled (gecontroleerd door buitenland): German-Americans owned many of the breweries (brouwerijen)
Who: prohibitionist
the most active anti-alcolholgroup: Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
- anti-alcohol but also
- women's right to vote (vrouwenstemrecht)
- eight-hour work day (werkdag van 8 uren)
- prison reform (hervorming gevangenis)
=> this was attractive for progressives: Prohibition = way to attack bosses of political machines with headquarters in saloons (café, kroeg)
Prohibitionist (voorstander van alcoholverbod)=
- rural or small-town inhabitant (plattelands- of kleine stadsbewoner)
- middle-class (middenklasse=werkt niet met zijn handen)
- Angelsaksisch (Engeland)
- Evangelical Protestant
- fearful of Blacks, immigrants, Jews & Catholics (bang van zwarten, immigranten, joden en katholieken)
=> - drinking linquor = immoral
=> - protecting women/children for working men who drank their salaries and neglected their families
Why
society was changing:
- power established class of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants overtaken (macht van gevestigde klasse van witte Anglo-Saksische - van Engeland - protestanten verdwijnt door...
- wave of new immigrants (nieuwe golf van immigranten), mainly Catholic & Jewish people from southern and eastern europe (strenger gelovig)
increase (toename) of religious leaders who wanted
- return tot Puritan ideal (streng gelovig)
- movement toward "temperance" (meer matigheid, hier in alcoholgebruik)
Small-town values (waarden) <-> growing big cities
- After First World War: new freedoms (dress, behaviour, sexual attitudes, automobile replaces horse & cariage (paard en koets) & music - The Jazz Age
