Prohibition
Demon Rum
 Prohibitionists
fought for decades to make alcohol illegal.
Nationally known
prohibitionist Carry A. Nation strode through the bars of Holly,
Michigan, wielding her umbrella and shouting against "Demon
Rum" in 1908.  Women's Christian Temperance Union supporters marched
in Ann Arbor in 1909 in favor of prohibition. The prohibitionists won in 1917, when voters amended the state constitution, making
Michigan a "dry" state.
Women who belonged
to the Michigan Women's Christian Temperance Union made and signed this
quilt in 1926. These 155 women were among those who had fought for and
obtained the 18th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, which made the
whole nation "dry."
The 18th
Amendment
In 1920, the 18th
amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol
nationwide. Detroit became a center for smuggling illegal liquor from
Canada.
The
people who drank, broke the law by buying the stuff, using it, really
didn't think they were morally or legally doing anything wrong and I
suppose the bootlegger felt the same way.
Ray
Girardin, Detroit Police Commissioner
 Law
enforcement officials confiscated stills and bottles that were used in
making illegal alcohol. Many people who otherwise abided by the law
violated Prohibition.
The
huge profits made on illegal alcohol encouraged crime on a greater scale.
Detroit's notorious Purple Gang ran speakeasies, smuggled alcohol,
supplied gangster Al Capone with Canadian liquor and engaged in violent
activities during the 1920s.
The
18th amendment was repealed in 1933.
|
