A Nation Of Prohibition: Film By Ken Burns And Lynn Novick

Prohibition Project Prohibition is one of the biggest events in U.S. history. It has shaped and truly formed what the beverage industry is like today because despite of all the opposing factors in the past, people have learned to (kind of) control and have limitations with their drinking habits. People in the past had so many issues with alcohol and drinking because it was a new thing to do and although it made people feel good or relaxed, they really just didn’t know to handle how much they drank. Further, prohibition turned many law abiding citizens to law breakers. In the first episode “ A Nation of Drunkards” of “Prohibition” a film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, they stated that “ human freedom was being limited”. Many citizens did not

They were called scofflaws. The name came from two citizens who entered a contest to name people who drank illegally. Two people came up with the same name and split the prize. In the second episode, “A Nation of Scofflaws”, it was mentioned that “ to pass the law means nothing, to enforce it, means everything.” This saying truly couldn’t speak on a better phrase because even until today, this is still true. Although alcohol was banned, they were still some loopholes that were managed like, saying apple cider was ok and prescribing alcohol with only three pints a month was legal. Doctors wrote over 6 million prescriptions for alcohol during this time. Some state governors did not follow the prohibition laws though. Roy Olmsted was a police officer in Seattle, who became very well known and famous for being what people called him “ the good bootlegger.” He had a good amount of the Seattle police force backing him up and helping him through his lucrative business, including Hunt. Canada at this time did not have any bans on alcohol making it very legal for them to have and this is how Roy got his supply and shipment. New York city however, was the the ultimate battleground between wets and drys. One of America’s biggest cities was one of the toughest cities to enforce the prohibition law. There was no way 200 prohibition agents or even 2,000 prohibition agents could handle all the illegal activity that was going on all around the city. Many of the agents were hired just to be hired. Anyone could be an agent, which later backfired because many of them ended up getting fired because they were not carrying out the job correctly. They had little to no training and possibly drank on the job too, of course illegally. A sickness called “Jake Leg” even came about because of wood alcohol, which later was found to be poisonous. Smuggling was not difficult at all. Violent criminals like Al Capone was notorious in the