A group women who support prohibition.
Prohibition is the banning of alcohol and was a period in the United States history when it was illegal to manufacture, sell, and transport alcohol. After the American Revolution, a temperance movement began, which was a bunch of societies devoted to stopping people from becoming intoxicated. However, after several decades the movement’s focus changed to complete prohibition. In 1916 the 18th amendment was added to the constitution, which banned all the manufacturing of alcohol. This amendment did not go into affect until 1920. The Volstead act was then created in 1919, which just simply clarified the amendment. There were multiple loopholes around prohibition. Before the amendment went into affect many people bought alcohol, so all they would do was store it personally and drink it. Also, the amendment stated that it was ok if one drank alcohol if prescribed by a doctor. So, during this time many prescriptions were written. During this time for people who drank illegally, a new breed of gangsters arose. One of the most famous gangsters of this Era was Al Capone. Many gangsters would hire men to smuggle or hijack alcohol from many different places. They also would take huge barrels of it from homestead mills. In addition during this period there were speakeasies, which were large drinking establishments. Around the time of the crash of the stock market and the Great Depression people’s opinions of prohibition began to change. The 21st amendment was then created to repeal the 18th amendment. This was the first time in history that an amendment was repealed.