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Prohibition and the Hooch Murder Bill

In the early 1900s-1920s, there was concern about the negative effects of alcohol consumption in America. Prohibitionists created posters (Documents C and D) expressing this view before the 18th Amendment banned alcohol. The posters warned that children's development was at risk if alcohol was in the home. Document C compared children from homes with and without alcohol, claiming the latter had more health issues. Document D listed three "birthrights" of children - to be well-born, cared for, and trained - that drinking spoiled. Prohibition supporters wanted to further restrict alcohol after the 18th Amendment passed by proposing a "Hooch Murder" bill to charge those selling alcohol resulting in death with murder.

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297 views2 pages

Prohibition and the Hooch Murder Bill

In the early 1900s-1920s, there was concern about the negative effects of alcohol consumption in America. Prohibitionists created posters (Documents C and D) expressing this view before the 18th Amendment banned alcohol. The posters warned that children's development was at risk if alcohol was in the home. Document C compared children from homes with and without alcohol, claiming the latter had more health issues. Document D listed three "birthrights" of children - to be well-born, cared for, and trained - that drinking spoiled. Prohibition supporters wanted to further restrict alcohol after the 18th Amendment passed by proposing a "Hooch Murder" bill to charge those selling alcohol resulting in death with murder.

Uploaded by

peyton
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

In the early 1900s to the 1920s concern for the negative effects of

alcohol consumption on the lives of American citizens was a pressing issue.

Early prohibitionist ideals were expressed through propaganda such as

Documents C and D, which were posters. Printed before 18 th amendment,

which had banned alcohol, these posters addressed the early fear that the

mental and developmental growth of children was at risk if there was alcohol

in their home environment. A comparison between children raised in

temperate and intemperate households was displayed in Document C

claiming that intemperate families had more infant mortality and children

with special needs, where as the majority of recorded children from

temperate homes were labeled normal. It can be observed in Document D

that there were three major concerns as to how alcohol could negatively

affect a childs life, the childs birthrights are: to be well born, to be well

cared for, and to be well trained, drink spoils all three. The point that this

poster is that by making poor health choices for themselves, parents are

putting their children at risk and taking away their birthrights. According to

the statement by a speaker for the Supreme Court, We cannot shut out of

view the fact that public health and public safety may be harmed by the

general use of alcohol (Document A). His purpose for this argument is to

show his support of the 18th amendment on prohibition by expressing concern

for those who are prone to intoxication, and hurt those who get hurt due to

others who are intoxicated. After the victory in the ratification of the 18 th

amendment, having the knowledge of the continuous consumption and illegal

trade of alcohol, prohibitionists wanted to go even further to put an end to

drinking. With this in mind prohibitionists proposed the Hooch Murder bill,
which stated that, a person can be tried for murder, and punished

accordingly, if they are suspected of selling alcohol that resulted in the death

of the person drinking it (Document B). This is an extreme example of the

prohibition movement which did not get passed.

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