This definitions covers Key Terms You Must Know within Prohibition for GCSE History. Revise Prohibition in America 1920-1973 for GCSE History with 10 exam-style questions and 14 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 10 of 15 in this topic. Make sure you can use the exact wording confidently, because definition marks are often lost through vague language.
Topic position
Section 10 of 15
Practice
10 questions
Recall
14 flashcards
📖 Key Terms You Must Know
- Prohibition
- The period from 1920 to 1933 when the 18th Amendment banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of "intoxicating liquors" in the United States. Enforced by the Volstead Act. Intended to reduce poverty, crime, and immorality, but produced the opposite: organised crime, corruption, and widespread lawbreaking.
- Bootlegging
- The illegal manufacture, transport, or sale of alcohol during Prohibition. The term comes from the practice of hiding flasks in boot legs. Bootleggers like Al Capone made enormous fortunes supplying what the law had banned. The bootlegging industry was worth an estimated $2 billion per year, creating a massive illegal economy controlled by criminal gangs.
- Speakeasy
- A secret illegal bar that operated during Prohibition. To enter, you needed a password — hence "speaking easy" (quietly). There were 30,000 speakeasies in New York City alone by the late 1920s — more than the number of legal bars before Prohibition. They were open secrets, surviving by bribing police. Their existence demonstrated that Prohibition had completely failed to stop drinking.
- 18th Amendment (1919/1920)
- The constitutional amendment that introduced Prohibition. Ratified in 1919, it came into effect on 17 January 1920. It banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors. Enforced by the Volstead Act. Repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.
- 21st Amendment (1933)
- The constitutional amendment that repealed Prohibition. It is the only time in American history that a constitutional amendment has been undone — a reflection of how comprehensively Prohibition had failed. President Roosevelt pushed for repeal partly to raise tax revenue desperately needed during the Depression.
- Al Capone
- The most notorious gangster of the Prohibition era, who dominated organised crime in Chicago. Earned approximately $60 million per year from bootlegging, gambling, and other criminal activities. Corrupted the Chicago police force and political establishment. Never convicted of any violent crime — finally jailed in 1931 for tax evasion. His career symbolises how Prohibition created, rather than reduced, criminality.