America KQ3

Question 1

Which act made the sale of alcohol illegal?

Answer 1

The Volstead Act 1919

Question 2

Why was alcohol made illegal?

Answer 2

A number of organizations including the Anti-Saloon League and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and some religious groups such as the Methodists and Baptists, put pressure on the government to ban alcohol as they claimed it was the work of the devil and that it disobeyed Christianity.

Question 3

What were rum-runners?

Answer 3

Rum-runners smuggled alcohol into the USA illegally from Canada and Mexico.

Question 4

What were moonshiners?

Answer 4

Moonshiners distilled their own alcohol illegally from home

Question 5

What were bootleggers

Answer 5

Bootleggers sold alcohol illegally during prohibition

Question 6

What were speakeasies and how many opened during prohibition?

Answer 6

Speakeasies were illegal drinking places where you could buy alcohol, in 1925, there were 10 000 speakeasies in New York alone and they open so that there were 6 speakeasies for every 1 saloon that had been opened before.

Question 7

How did gangsters ensure it was not stopped?

Answer 7

They bribed police officers, judges and politians

Question 8

How did the government deal with the corruption?

Answer 8

they employed 3 000 prohibition agents however each had to police 75 000km2 and 1 500 000 people so they struggle to make much of a difference.

Question 9

Why did using Prohibition agents fail?

Answer 9

The pay was very low so they could be easily bribed and people would not change their drinking habits

Question 10

Who was Al Capone?

Answer 10

Al Capone was an American gangster born in 1899 to poor immigrant parents, who became the leader of a colossal gang in Chicago in the 1920s

Question 11

What was Capone’s gang doing during the 1920s in the height of prohibition?

Answer 11

During the 1920s, Capone was busy with operations in bootlegging, prostitution and gambling, something that dominated the organized crime scene

Question 12

What was the Valentines Day Massacre?

Answer 12

The Valentines Day Massacre was where 7 members of Bugs Moran’s gang were killed by four of Capone’s gang posing as police officers. There were no convictions as a result of the massacre

Question 13

When and where did the Valentines Day Massacre take place?

Answer 13

It took place in a garage in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois on February 14, 1929.

Question 14

Who were Warren G. Harding and his cabinet?

Answer 14

Warren G. Harding was elected President of the US in 1920 and gained a reputation as a weak president after he gave key roles in his cabinet to his friends

Question 15

Who were the Ohio Gang?

Answer 15

They were a group of politicians during Harding’s term who betrayed the public’s trust in a series of public scandals

Question 16

What was the Teapot Dome scandal?

Answer 16

The Teapot Dome Scandal was where oil reserves set aside for the Navy were leased by Albert B. Fall, Secretary of the Interior in 1922, without any competitive bidding. The Teapot Dome fields were leased to Harry F. Sinclair and the field at Elk Hills was leased to Edward Doheny. Fall got over $200 000 in bribes from the ordeal.

Question 17

What consequences were there after the Teapot Dome Scandal?

Answer 17

At the beginning of 1924, after Harding’s death, investigations took place by Congress. Charles R. Forbes was found guilty of fraud, conspiracy, and bribery in the Veteran’s Bureau, Fall was found guilty and was imprisoned for a year and told to pay $150.000. Harry Dougherty was found guilty of selling alcohol illegally and giving licenses and pardons to offenders.