The Roaring Twenties Flashcards
Prohibition, and the Rise and Fall of the Economy
How do you define “progress”?
The process of making a better society, typically through technological advances
There was a sense of change and freedom in the air. In Canada, a demand for our natural resources increased in Europe and in the US, allowing for businesses to flourish - workers were hired and incomes were raised.
However, as we know, “social health” movements were also on the rise - targeting things like sex outside marriage, drinking, and gambling all in an effort to “improve” public health.
For women in the middle and upper classes, they carried the new sense of freedom from working on the home front into the new decade; they cut their hair short, wore their dresses short, smoked, drank, and became increasingly independent - it was the era of jazz bars and flappers.
yes
What is Prohibition?
The banning of Alcohol, making it illegal to purchase or consume
When was Prohibition passed?
1918
Under which Act was Prohibition passed?
The War Measures Act
Why was Prohibition passed?
- The Christian Women’s Temperance Union had been asking for a long time, believing it was the cause of many of society’s ills.
- During WW1, grain was needed to feed soldiers at the front line.
What happened because of Prohibition?
- A rise in organised crime, gangs controlled the liquor trade with violence and threats.
- Corruption, payoffs were made to police and local officials.
- Bootlegging, alcohol was illegally produced and smuggled, this caused issues and impurities in the supply, which could kill people.
- Speakeasies, secret bars and drinking halls where people met to drink and smoke.
- Fake illness, alcohol was still medically prescribed, so many faked sick. It was also available for religious reasons.
Did Prohibition work? - Yes
- Arrests for drunkenness dropped considerably.
- Some family saving accounts doubled
- Women were not beaten as often
- Factories were more productive
Did Prohibition work? - However
- Prohibition created an underworld of crime that criminals made millions from. 2. Prohibition was very unpopular and increasingly difficult to enforce.
Canada had a period of rolling laws and regulations across different provinces throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the First World War– it was seen as in bad taste to be drinking when men were losing their lives across the ocean, and supplies should be reserved for the war effort.
However, after the end of the war, Canada went into the 1920s with a generally open attitude towards manufacturing and sale of alcoholic beverages, with the exception of the Women’s Temperance Movement.
This was greatly beneficial to alcohol producers that lived near the US border, as the US had recently implemented the 18th Amendment, which criminalized production, sale, and transportation of alcohol.
For women recently out of work or widowed, rum-running and bootlegging became a common way they would make money to support their families.
yes
Myths - Women, 1920s
- Women only worked within the household before “women’s rights”
- Women always wanted the right to vote and represent themselves in government
- Once achieved, women’s rights applied equally to all
Facts - Women, 1920s
- Poor and working class women have always worked outside the household in order to make ends meet
- Women were not a monolithic group; many women saw it as a “man’s job” and didn’t want added responsibility
- Indigenous women, Asian women, French women, and some religious minorities were denied the right to vote for decades after the 1920s
What is suffrage?
The right to vote in public elections
What is a suffragette?
A woman, seeking the right to vote through public, organised protest
What is Enfranchisement?
The process of giving the rights to a group of people, generally the right to vote
