National Prohibition Act Essay Outline

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The National Prohibition Act American life seems to revolve around their automobiles, radios, parties and a "live life in the fast lane” attitude, but underneath all the glamour lived a group of people who refused to obey any laws in 1920. With the enactment of Prohibition in 1919 by the 18th Amendment, a great struggle began to "brew” on the street of Chicago between the United States government and gangsters. In 1924, when the Department of Commerce estimated the value of liquor being smuggled into the country, by gangsters, at $40 million, a young United States Prohibition Bureau agent, by the name of Eliot Ness, was asked to assemble and lead a team to go after Al Capone's breweries and hard liquor operations. Eliot Ness and his team of nine men would later become known as "The Untouchables”. They would successfully enforce Prohibition in the city of Chicago by putting an end to Al Capone and his flourishing bootlegging industry.
On December 22, 1917, with the majorities well in excess of the two-third requirement, Congress submitted to the 18th Amendment to the states. This amendment prohibited "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors”. By January 1919, ratification was complete, with 80% of the members of 46-state legislatures recorded approval. …show more content…
This act was usually called the Volstead Act because Congressman Andrew Volstead introduced it in 1919. The Volstead Act defined the "prohibited intoxicating liquors” as those with an alcoholic content of more than 0.5 percent. "On January 17th, 1920, the federal government was in the business of enforcing prohibition,"(Heimel 27). Because the opportunities to make money by disregarding the law through smuggling, distilling, fermenting, and brewing were legion, prohibition always represented more of an ideal than a reality. It was on this basis that the Bootleg Wars
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