1920s and Prohibition

  • The Temperance Act

    Temperance supporters around Topeka, Kansas poured alcohol into the sewers because some supporters of the temperance movement wanted to prevent consumption and production of alcohol as they thought it was a threat to the success of the country
  • The 18th Amendment

    The 18th Amendment was added to the Constitution prohibiting production, sale, and transport of alcohol.
  • The Volstead Act

    Congress passed the National Prohibition Act (Volstead Act)
  • The Good Bootlegger

    Roy Olmstead, a police lieutenant bootlegged alcohol and was reffered to as "King of the Puget Sound Bootleggers" by 1920.
  • Rum Row

    William McCoy sailed a schooner with 1500 cases of alcohol from Nassau to the Savannah profiting about $15k a trip.
  • Kentucky Stills

    Frank Mather with the treasury department, went to Nelson County in Kentucky, looking for moonshiners to arrest.
  • Scofflaw

    The Boston Herald awarded two readers who invented the word for someone who ignores the law and drinks illegal alcohol "Scofflaw"
  • Beer Wars

    Gangs on the streets of Chicago had 'wars' against rival gangs over control of the city's alcohol black market
  • Gang Wars

    Around 1929, almost every single city in the United States had problems with the rise of gang violence
  • The Great Depression

    After a major decline in the United States stock market, the entire country was thrown into an economic depression, lasting for over 10 years