Prohibition in the US

Prohibition in the United States is a vastly well known period of time for the Americans, lasting 14 years.  Similar to the Canadians, the Americans had a temporary Wartime Prohibition Act to save grain for WWI.  But as Canada’s experiment with prohibition came to an end in the 1920’s, the US’s was just beginning, as the US government enacted a national prohibition in 1919 much stricter than the Canadians’.  American prohibition was a very controversial time period, as the enactment of prohibition spurred a revolution of organized crime.  Chicago gangster Alphonse “Al” Capone is the most notable gangster of the prohibition era, as he and his cronies would make $60 million dollars a year from underground alcohol trafficking.  The competition among American gangs at this time was very high, as every gang wanted to enter Capone’s alcohol monopoly, but due to the very nature of gangs this created various conflicts that were resolved by violence.  The most notable gang conflict in the prohibition era was the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, which still is one of the most notorious events of gang violence, and contributed to the approximate 500 gang related murders of the prohibition era. Since Americans had prohibition, and Quebec never had a full prohibition, Quebec had been the alcohol capital of North America for a short while, when many provinces still had prohibition in the 1920’s, and reaped the benefits economically from Americans seeking liquor.  Another hotspot for liquor trafficking was the Detroit-Windsor border, as this served as the main gateway for smuggling during American prohibition.