Elliot+Ness,+U.S.+Treasury+Department,+Volstead+Act

Home 1920's Topics __1920’s Project Assignment__

Eliot Ness, U.S. Treasury Department, Volstead Act Stacy G. Eliot Ness || Cash room doors ||
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|| U.S. Treasury Department || __Task One---DESCRIBE YOUR TOPIC -Due Tuesday, February 7__ Each topic includes an association or movement and an individual. Please write __two__ extended power paragraphs that address the following prompt:**Explain the achievements associated with your topic. Who and what were altered? Describe why both were significant in the 1920s. Explain the relationship between the individua****l and the association or movement.** POST PARAGRAPHS HERE
 * Support the ideas in each paragraph with evidence from a minimum of three credible sources.
 * Select only signed sources from the LC databases--each source must have a credible author.
 * Establish the credibility of the author the first time a source is referenced.
 * Credit sources with internal citations and in a Works Cited.
 * Insert the Works Cited after the Third Task.
 * Post the paragraphs to the wiki. Timely posting of completed tasks earn 10 points.

Beginning in the 19th-century, Alcohol prohibition gradually emerged in the United States. The Prohibition eventually was made official with the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Volstead Act. The “Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act together outlawed alcohol in the United States” (treasury agents) formally known as Prohibition. The Amendment and the Volstead Act banned the Manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. Many critics of Prohibition “continued to believe that the amendment represented an unwarranted federal intrusion into an area of person relations best left to State control” (Prohibition). People felt that banning alcohol at the national level was outrageous and the decision of whether or not alcohol should be banned was best left up to the State. Later, as a result of the numerous critics of Prohibition, “gangs seized the opportunity to organize large-scale alcohol manufacturing, transportation, and distribution networks” (crime). By prohibiting the manufacture and sale of Alcohol with the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act, the original vision of a less violent and more sober United States turned into a country filled with organized crime and even more violence.

Since the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead act banned alcohol sale and manufacture in the United States, gangs and organized crime became popular. As the violence and crime increased, people like Eliot Ness from the U.S. Treasury Department emerged as prominent figures to help control these crime sprees. With banned alcohol as a newly desired illegal substance, “organized crime and its accompanying violence received a major boost” (Prohibition). The government when passing the Eighteenth Amendment and Volstead Act failed to see that making a substance, such as alcohol, illegal, did not prevent people from finding and purchasing the product. “Competition among gangs led to high incidences of fighting, kidnapping, and murder as groups battled for control of a neighborhood or crime network” (Crime) in which they could sell their illegal supplies of smuggled alcohol. This type of organized crime led to the rise of people such as Al Capone, also known as ‘Scarface’, to rise in the organized crime business; Al Capone is one of America’s most famous criminals for the large sum of money he made through the underworld business of alcohol sales, approximately $60 million in the 1920’s. Given the task to put Al Capone out of his illegal alcohol business, Ness used “surveillance, anonymous tips, and wire-tapping to discover and destroy the gangster's distilleries and breweries. [Also,] viewing the press as an ally in the war against Capone, Ness often alerted journalists before raiding Capone's enterprises” (Kelley) because he knew Capone wanted his business to stay unnoticed, so the press would be the last thing he would want to have snooping around. This work by Ness hurt Capone’s income significantly, ended $1 million in business, and Ness knew Capone would be having a difficult time meeting his “payoff” obligation without going a risky path and try to smuggle alcohol into Chicago. Eventually, Capone was “brought to justice by accountants and bureaucrats from the Department of the Treasury,” (treasury agents) with a great deal of credit going to Eliot Ness. Al Capone was not found guilty of violent crimes directly even though 5,000 violations of the Volstead act were part of the verdict, but instead was found guilty of tax evasion and sent to Alcatraz.

__Task Two-EVALUATE YOUR TOPICS INFLUENCE-Due Friday, February 10__ Please write two extended power paragraphs which each cite a minimum of three credible sources. Discuss the scope of influence of your topic on the 1920s. How extensive was the influence? Which part of society was influenced? Did the change endure or stimulate additional changes? What is the topic's legacy? What impact did the topic have in the Twenty-First century. POST PARAGRAPHS HERE

In the 1920’s, the Volstead act influenced a diverse group of people which ranged from individual persons to an entire business. As prohibition, which was made official by the Volstead Act, reached the nation, a series of changes to everyday life became prominent. Right away the “end of legal alcohol. . . meant the end of many of the elegant hotels and big-city restaurants who’s kitchens were dependent upon wine and spirits” (Hayes) for their dishes. The majority of the restaurants used alcohol daily for flavoring purposes and when prohibition came around, trained chefs left to find new jobs in wealthy homes or even Europe. Next, Jack Blocker, a writer on elibrary, writes “breweries, wineries, and distilleries closed their doors forever” (Blocker). With no one able to purchase alcohol anymore, these businesses lost their place in society and closed, with many never opening up again even after the end of prohibition. Finally, from an individual’s standpoint, “more than a half million arrests were made by local, state and federal officials. . . and Americans began to fear police intrusion into their personal lives” (Smock). The Volstead act created an increase of police enforcement of Prohibition in order to ensure people fallow the rules; this sudden increase of the police made Americans fearful because they didn’t know if one of these days, they would return home and find a police officer there searching for illegal alcohol.

As people began to adapt to a life without alcohol, they started to find new drinks and gained new habits to fill the void, which led to legacies still noticeable today. These habits and drinks seem to help the country for the most part, while some new traditions can go either way, good and bad. According to Joanne Hayes, an author on ABC-CLIO, one of the less desirable aspect that came from Prohibition was that “Americans began to drink more potent drinks. . . [and] deaths from poisonous liquor rose” (Hayes) because hard liquor, such as whisky, was cheaper to transport and to purchase illegally. Beer was replaced with hard liquor due to its high concentration of alcohol making the transportation process cheaper and the potent aspect of hard liquor allowed people to ‘get drunk’ with smaller glasses of liquor. Furthermore, this event “fostered increasing consumption of nonalcoholic beverages, such as fruit juices and carbonated drinks” (Blocker) leading to the rise of soda. As people began to consume carbonated drinks instead of alcoholic beverages and the use of a salon deteriorated, people began to become slightly more responsible in regards to their actions, and some even did not flinch when the prohibition later ended in 1933. The prohibition era left behind numerous legacies which are still apparent today in society including the idea of “organized crime” (crime) and the practice of drinking alcohol at home rather than in a salon. The legacies and events that are expressed as a result of the Volstead Act and Prohibition show how impactful the situation really was on society.

Task ThreeJUDGE THE IMPACT OF THE INDIVIDUAL & ASSOCIATION---Due Feb. 15 Now that you have a basic understanding of your topic, and you know the scope of its influence, explain the forces that produced or created the topic. Additionally, what were the driving forces behind the society's reaction to your topic? Use the criteria described in the the Great Man Continuum to determine your topics long-run influence on society. Place your topic on the continuum and justify the reasons for your placement. Please confine your analysis to two extended power paragraphs with each citing a minimum of three credible sources. POST PARAGRAPHS HERE

The Volstead Act was initially created to end saloons, violence, and death which were all related to the consumption of alcohol. After the act was ratified, some parts of society reacted positively to the act while others responded in a negative manner as they tried to find ways around it. The act was put into place to end the sale and manufacture of alcohol and “once prohibition became the law of the land, many citizens decided to obey it” (Blocker). Support for Prohibition was high, and ultimately this support helped to successfully end saloons among other things. Main supporters of Prohibition were “women’s rights activists concerned about alcohol’s effect on the family” (Prohibition). Men would return home drunk after spending an afternoon at the saloon and would become aggressive with his wife and family which may have led to physical injuries being inflicted. On the other hand, although a majority of people supported The Volstead Act, some people were against the act and searched for ways around it through organized crime that led to the creation of “gangster’s distilleries and breweries” (Kelley) that sold illegal alcohol to people in a discreet manner. All in all, The Volstead Act helped to end saloons and careless drinking on a widespread public level, and also led to the creation of organized crime; these legacies can be looked at both positively and negatively showing how Prohibition had a mixed impact on the country.

With regards to the Great Man Continuum, Eliot Ness would be put in between an Eventful Hero and Social Determinism, with the ‘X’ closer to Social Determinism. Ness’ role in society was to enforce the laws set forth by the Volstead act, which made his role largely based on environmental conditions. Beverly Kelley, from ABC-CLIO, states that Ness was the “Prohibition Bureau agent who helped put Al Capone in prison with the assistance of nine agents. . . [and also] fought organized crime for another decade catching corrupt cops and firefighters, ending bootlegging operations, labor racketeers, closing illegal gambling clubs and demolishing illegal gambling operations”. Since Ness works with others to enforce laws set forth by the Volstead Act, this would put the Volstead Act and his role in it under the category of Social Determinism. It was not so much Ness who changed the society, but it was the “normalization of drinking” (Blocker) in the country that ultimately pushed society as a whole to determine that drinking was a problem and The Volstead Act was a necessary change to correct this. Finally, with The Volstead Act considered the “law of the land” (Smock) the law needed to be enforced, and people like Eliot Ness were the ones people turned to. Ness was an enforcer of The Volstead Act who was not significant until after the act was law; Ness’s role and the Volstead Act shows Social determinism in which society changed society, rather than a single person leading the rest.

__Works Cited:__

Blocker, Jack. "Did Prohibition Really Work? Alcohol Prohibition as a Public Health Innovation." //elibrary//. Dept. of History, Harron U collage, U of Western Ontario, 16 June 2005. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. [].

"crime". American Government. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.

Hayes, Joanne Lamb. “Prohibition.” //Daily Life through History//. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.

Kelley, Beverly. "Eliot Ness." //Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society//.ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2012.

"Prohibition." American Government. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.

Smock, Raymond. "The National Prohibition Act (The Volstead Act)." //CQ Press// //Surpreme Court Collection//. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. [document.php?id=lmkusc-0004829892&type=query&num=Volstead+Act&].

"treasury agents." American Government. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 7 Feb. 2010.

Civil Society Defined Great Man Continuum Individuals with high totals, mostly 5’s, should be placed close to Great Men; those with low scores near social determinism. Great Man Continuum Great ---Event Making -Eventful ---X--Social Men --Hero -Hero ---Determinism
 * Applying the Great Man Theory to historical or contemporary personalities ** When deciding where a person may fit on the continuum, think about what society was like at the time he/she was famous. Did the person change history because of their personal characteristics, or would history have gone on in a similar way without this person?
 * Great Man Criteria: Use a scale of 0-to 5 to evaluate the individual’s accomplishments, legacy, influence, and impact. ** ** 0=not at all, 1=little effect, 2=short run, 3=moderate, 4=wide-spread, 5=long run **
 * Great Man Criteria || ** 5=long-run ** || ** 4=wide-spread ** || ** 3=moderate ** || ** 2=short run ** || ** 1=little effect ** || ** 0=not at all ** ||
 * ** SIGNIFICANCE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT ** ||  ||   || X ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** ENDURANCE OF LEGACY ** ||  ||   ||   || X ||   ||   ||
 * ** EXTENT OF INFLUENCE ** ||  ||   ||   || X ||   ||   ||
 * ** IMPACT ON DAILY LIFE ** ||  ||   ||   ||   || X ||   ||

Rubric for all three tasks: :) Outstanding paragraphs include the following elements: ✓ Accurate power paragraph format with each paragraph citing evidence from three different sources. ✓ Correct research components such as credibility statement, internal citations, Works Cited entries ✓ Thoughtful and thorough response to the each prompt ✓ A variety of sentences with interesting, clear diction ✓ Photos exemplifying the influence of the individual and association or movement ✓ Place your topic on the Great Man Continuum; ✓ Complete the criteria table to justify the reasons for your placement.