United States alcohol

Alcohol in the United States

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En gras (sauf les titres des parties…) : mots à écrire au tableau.

The Prohibition in the USA

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Intro

We’ve chosen the period of the Prohibition to illustrate the theme of the alcohol in the United States. Several prohibitions were organized during the 20th century, in Canada, Russia or Finland for example. But the most well-known is incontestably the American prohibition. This period is linked to big figure of US culture and history as the gangster, jazz music or the 1929 (nineteen twenty nine) crash.

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So we gonna start with a presentation of the Prohibition in the USA, / CLIC / then we’ll see an extract of the film Lawless and to finish we can wonder how the Prohibition was a political failure which drew a good image of / CLIC / the gangsters.

The Prohibition’s origins

National prohibition started in January 1920 after the Volstead Act -text which prohibited  intoxicating beverages, and to regulate the manufacture, production, use, and sale of  alcohol - and the 18th amendment of the US Constitution.

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But the idea of banning alcohol progress during the 19th century. Irish immigration brought to the USA the skill of the alcohol distillation. During this period, an important part of population suffers from alcoholism. Women above all. First, some states prohibited limited alcohol selling as Maine in 1851 (eighteen fifty one) . In 1855 (eighteen fifty five), 13 others prohibited alcohol. They were called CLIC “dry states”. But these organizations didn’t want to stop here. They passed to the federal level to impose the prohibition to the whole country. They tried to convince the majority to CLIC vote a law. They took advantage of the conservative feeling which grew at this period, facing a huge immigration and the recent experience of World War One.

More and more people and movement denounced the ravages of drinking alcohol and the problems caused by alcohol into the families. CLIC Women and the Catholic Church, especially, presented alcohol as the cause of domestic violence, CLIC social problems, and wanted to improve the life of Americans, particularly the poorest ones.  CLIC The photo comes from the US American Anti-Saloon League.  It highlights the slogan “Lips that touch liquor shall not touch ours” wich represents a blackmail. It proves the power of the women at the beginning of the prohibition. It is very significative.

So organizations, called “temperance leagues”, emerged, like “Woman's Christian Temperance Union  » led by CLIC Frances Willard (a feminist suffragist = member of women's organization (right to vote) movements in the late 19th and early 20th century), and applied a lobby on the legislatives instances. These movements tried to close saloons too. In the documentary “One upon a time America prohibition”, the author Viktor Stauder explains that: “They pried, they sang canticles and wrote petitions against alcoholism”. At the beginning of the 20th (twentieth) century, a petition in favor of the prohibition collected 180 000 signatures (hundred eighty thousands). In that way, on January the 29th (twenty ninth) of 1919 (nineteen nineteen), the 18th  (eighteen) amendment of the US Constitution is ratified. It prohibited the manufacture, the sale or the transportation of any alcoholic liquor apart for medicinal use and the wine for the Mass. This amendment was reinforced by the Volstead Act, which increase the prohibition to the bar and restaurant.  

Proceeding

In the beginning, the prohibition was quite a CLIC success. Alcohol consumption decreased CLIC quickly as arrests for drunkenness. The price of liquor became too high for poor people and the lower class of the population. Another goal of the law worked: with the emergence of the production lines, boss of this new type of factories needed CLIC staff in good shape and able to be on time. With the drop of beverage, workers were in better conditions to their job CLIC.

But thing getting worse quickly too. A large part of the population started to get round the law. CLIC Moonshine appeared. People hide beverages with inventiveness as false books or hidden flasks CLIC. The manufacture, also prohibited, started to organize, especially in the countryside. The size of the country and the fact that it wasn’t so developed yet made police controls difficult. But the alcohol came from outside the boarders too. Canada and Britain Islands such as Bahamas or Bermuda CLIC saw an opportunity to make money. Police and government forces couldn’t survey all borders, forest or river. And all this lucrative business attracted obviously criminal organizations CLIC.

We have chosen an extract from the movie Lawless, directed by John Hillcoat, which depicts a global representation of this period.  Actors Shia Laboeuf, Tom Hardy, Guy Pierce, Jason Clark, Jessica Chastain or Gary Oldman played into the movie. The film is an adaptation of the novel “the wettest county in the world” from author Matt Bondurant. This book tells the true story of the Bondurant brothers, Forrest, Howard and Jack who were bootleggers during the prohibition. They organized their small business in the county of Franklin with the approbation of the local sheriff. But in 1931, a new prosecutor arrived in the state, with the desire to make money with moonshine. With his special agent from Chicago, Charlie Rakes, he threatened local bootleggers. If they didn’t pay him a part of their earnings, he sent his boy and the local police to arrest them. The Bondurant boys, which are locally known for their strong personality, refused. The novel relate their battle against prosecutor Mason Wardell and his special agent Charlie Rakes. The author of the novel, Matt Bondurant is the grandson of Jack, the younger Bondurant boy.

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