Moonshine Research Paper

BACKGROUND PAPER
ON
SUSTENANCE AND HEALTH

1. Imagine yourself, a soldier, returning home from the American Revolutionary War. Now, picture your own government placing outrageous tax on spirits and wine to pay for the expense of fighting such a long war. Think about how angry that would make you. Especially, when you just fought to free your country from oppressive British taxes. This paper is about sustenance and health and how the production and distribution of moonshine shaped our culture and its impact on today’s America. Let’s start by taking a closer look at the production of moonshine.
2. In the early years, moonshining was all about survival. It wasn’t just a hobby or way to pass the time. Farmers could survive harsh winters by turning their harvests into profitable whiskey. Having that extra income made cruel frontier living seems almost tolerable. To counter the production of moonshine, federal agents (called Revenuers) would travel around to collect tax often being tarred and feathered in the process. Although moonshiners faced many challenging obstacles, it flourished throughout the United States, especially in

Kentucky, Virginia, and various southern states. In 1920, prohibition was declared and moonshine production soared through the roof. Moonshiners were struggling to meet demands causing the quality of the product to decrease. Moonshiners produced millions of gallons of “bathtub gin”, also known as hooch. This hooch had a foul taste due to industrial alcohol added to it like medicine alcohol and fuels. Thousands of people died as a result of this illicit hooch. Prohibition would entirely change how moonshiners distributed illegal alcohol. As a result, leading to the term we know now as “bootlegging”. Let’s explore the distribution of bootlegging.
3.

Bootlegging is simply the illegal traffic in liquor in violation of governmental restrictions. Canada also abolished liquor during the time of prohibition. Sparking people to smuggle alcohol through the U.S.-Canadian border. Methods of concealment ranged from digging underground tunnels to disguising old milk trucks. One story told about bootleggers strapping cow hoofs to the bottom of their soles to hide their footprints from prohibition agents. Bootlegging, also, helped lead to the establishment of American organized crime, which persisted long after the repeal of Prohibition2. Organized gangs would virtually take over city and rural streets. These same organizations had to find new methods to evade the law while delivering their products. Resulting in the first production of the stock car. And later formed what we know now as

Nascar.
4. Whether good or bad, America was founded on rebellion. Its what makes this nation what it is today. This paper discussed how American sustenance and health directly corralled into the production and distribution of moonshine. I covered how the early production of moonshine formed our frontier and way of life. Then I showed how prohibition leads to new and innovated ways of bootlegging. W