LESSON 7.1 - PROHIBITION

Explore the amendment process under the Constitution, including the

need for a new amendment to cancel an existing amendment.

Describe the intended and unintended consequences of Prohibition.

Explain the arguments in favor of Prohibition.

OBJECTIVES

speakeasy:

bootlegger:

temperance

movement:

prohibition:

A place where alcoholic beverages were sold illegally during Prohibition

The 18th amendment to the Constitution, in force from 1920 to

1933, which outlawed making, selling, or transporting alcoholic beverages except for medicinal and religious

purposes.

A person who makes, sells, or transports liquor illegally

An effort to promote moderation and, more often, complete abstinence in

alcohol consumption.

KEY VOCABULARY - MATCHING

speakeasy:

bootlegger:

temperance

movement:

prohibition:

A place where alcoholic beverages were sold illegally during Prohibition

The 18th amendment to the Constitution, in force from 1920 to

1933, which outlawed making, selling, or transporting alcoholic beverages except for medicinal and religious

purposes.

A person who makes, sells, or transports liquor illegally

An effort to promote moderation and, more often, complete abstinence in

alcohol consumption.

KEY VOCABULARY - MATCHING

WATCH THIS 6 MINUTE VIDEO

Link: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/watch-video/#id=2082675582

REASONS PEOPLE SUPPORTED

PROHIBITION

Excerpt from "Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition" by Daniel Okrent:

"THE STREETS OF San Francisco were jammed. A frenzy of cars, trucks, wagons, and every other imaginable form of conveyance crisscrossed the

town and battled its steepest hills. Porches, staircase landings, and sidewalks were piled high with boxes and crates delivered on the last possible day before

transporting their contents would become illegal. The next morning, the Chronicle reported that people whose beer, liquor, and wine had not arrived

by midnight were left to stand in their doorways "with haggard faces and glittering eyes." Just two weeks earlier, on the last New Year's Eve before

Prohibition, frantic celebrations had convulsed the city's hotels and private clubs, its neighborhood taverns and wharfside saloons. It was a spasm of desperate joy fueled, said the Chronicle, by great quantities of "bottled

sunshine" liberated from "cellars, club lockers, bank vaults, safety deposit boxes and other hiding places." Now, on January 16, the sunshine was

surrendering to darkness."

A LOOK INTO PROHIBITION

Known as the “Great Experiment”

Most people who wanted to drink kept drinking

Prohibition made drinking fashionable

Bootleggers, Rumrunners, & Speakeasies

Increase in organized crime

Laws and force didn’t always work to change behavior.

It was difficult & expensive to enforce a ban on alcohol.

DURING PROHIBITION

The 21st amendment, passed in December of 1933, ended

prohibition.

END OF PROHIBITION

Per person consumption of

alcoholic beverages

What does this bar graph

reveal?

The graph shows the beginning of Prohibtion as well as when it was repealed. The immediate upshoot after Prohibition was enacted shows just how much people "protested" prohibition. The percentage went

from 40% all the way up to 90%! It does look good that the percentage decreases throughout Prohibition, it is interesting to note that the final

great decrease happens after Prohibition is ended.

Total spending on distilled spirits as a percentage of total

alcohol sales

INMATES AT SING SING PRISON:

1917-22

"Instead of emptying the prisons as its supporters had hoped it would, Prohibition quickly

filled the prisons to capacity. Those convicted of additional crimes with victims (burglaries,

robberies, and murders), which were due to Prohibition and the black market, were

incarcerated largely in city and county jails and state prisons. 'The Sing Sing prison

deported no less than sixty prisoners to Auburn in May 1922 because of overcrowding.' The

graph shows the tremendous increase in the prison population at Sing Sing in the early

years of Prohibition."

Two methods for amending the constitution…

Option 1:

2/3 of Congress

(both Senate & House of Reps)

Option 2:

2/3 of states call for

Constitutional convention to

amend Constitution

Option 2 has never been used.

PASSING AN AMENDMENT

¾ of that states must approve the

amendment

¾ of states must approve the

amendment

Why did the writers of the Constitution make it so hard

to pass an amendment?

PASSING AN AMENDMENT

Why did the writers of the Constitution make it so hard

to pass an amendment?

Writers wanted to ensure that people could not change the Constitution easily.

A stable Constitution helps maintain a stable government and the balance

of power between the federal and state governments.

PASSING AN AMENDMENT

a. 10

b. 18

c. 25

d. 27

HOW MANY AMENDMENTS HAVE

BEEN MADE TO THE

CONSTITUTION SO FAR?

Exit Ticket: (earn THREE extra credit points when you answer correctly)

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Questions?

Have a great day!

QUESTIONS & EXIT TICKET