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Reilly O.

Ms. Barnett

AP World History

4/25/17

Final Project DBQ

Question: Analyze how various illegal substances have impacted countries throughout history.

Time and time again illegal substances have provided people with a sense of

empowerment, but at great expense to their health and safety. Illegal substances, such as opium

in China and alcohol in the United States, have provided the foundations for dramatic social

upheaval in history. Chinas opium market exploded during the 1770s despite China being closed

to the world economy. Thousands of Chinese became opium addicts and spent an increasing

amount of time in dens instead of at work. Horrified by the economic results, the emperor

desperately outlawed the drug and issued extensive campaigns to eliminate its presence within

China. The British were responsible for selling the drug through the East India Trading

Company, which had been making extraordinarily high profits from it. After the Chinese

government complained to it, Britain stubbornly refused to withdraw their vendors and instead

decided to punish China. These offenses prompted the First Opium War in 1839 that lasted until

1842. The British were victorious, and China fell victim to British imperialism as an unofficial

colony. The British forced Chinas ports open through the unfair Treaty of Nanking.

Consequently, Chinese anger prompted the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860 as the Qing

Dynasty desperately tried to rid themselves of the subordinate foreigners.

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Similarly, the American prohibition on alcohol began in 1920 and ended in 1933. The

18th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1919, declared that the consumption, brewing, or

selling of alcoholic substances was illegal. However, the amendment was largely ignored, and

the public resorted to speakeasies and the corruption of government officials to continue their

alcohol consumption. This unlawful environment planted the roots of the powerful, organized

crime groups in the United States that still exist today. Mobs, gangs, and mafia families made

millions of dollars in profits, which rivaled some of the most successful corporations in the

United States at that time.

Despite being illegal, both opium and alcohol were fiercely sought after in China and the

United States respectively. Although it occurred in different ways, both alcohol and opium were

catalysts to extensive social disruption and violence in their respective countries as outrageous

amounts of money were lost and populations became increasingly corrupted. These unfortunate

events were exploited by American racketeers and British influence, both of whom took

advantage of the enormous profits to be made from these substances.

Opium and alcohol became desirable yet harmful to the lives of many, and they were

symbolic of societal downfalls, such as habitual trips to opium dens and speakeasies, and

spending obscene sums of money on substances rather than fulfilling personal responsibilities.

Beginning with document one, it is clear that opiums detrimental effect on society started

directly with its consumers. This image depicts five opium addicts aimlessly lounging in one of

the many Chinese opium dens. The men appear dazed and weak as they smoke opium from

traditional pipes. They are sprawled on top of one another, which may suggest that they have not

moved in a long time. Opium impairs the brain and its ability to focus and keep track of time.
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Ideally, the men should have been working and earning money, not lying huddled around an

opium pot. The occasion of the image is sad. It was taken around 1900 after China lost the

Second Opium War in an attempt to rid themselves of the British exploiting the addicted Chinese

population. The image is symbolic of the defeat of Chinese society. Like the men in the photo,

China was not working or eating, just decaying. This photo also depicts how the world viewed

China during this crisis. By the late 1800s, ten percent of Chinese lives were ruined as they

became addicted to opium. Poverty due to drug abuse became prevalent and thousands died of

malnutrition as the drug overwhelmed their bodies. As a result, the Chinese economy

temporarily collapsed, and the British continued to take advantage of Chinas hardship through

forced trade and unequal treaties.

Document two is a passage from Chinas Only Hope: An Appeal, written by the Qing

Dynasty official, Zhang Zhidong, during the late 1800s. The passage is Zhidong lamenting the

toll opium had on Chinese society. Zhidongs views reflected the governments concern for

China as he called opium evil, and he made economic references regarding the depletion of

silver Taels in China caused by opium addicts using any means to obtain it. Zhidongs position

as a sober man and government official led him to the ugly revelation that opium was depleting

China of its resources and people. The Qing Dynasty saw opium as the downfall and poison of

China, and Zhidong reflected that angry view as a member of the ruling class. He stated that the

epidemic had reached all provinces and, therefore, all of China. As an official who oversaw the

country, he was well aware that silver had been imperative to Chinas success during the

previous century because it was sought after globally. It was essentially what allowed China to

stay relevant and to continue its internal view of superiority to the rest of the world. Zhidongs
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position allowed him to see this shift in global power. The Chinese monopolized silver trade for

a long time, which helped stabilize the Chinese economy. As opium prices inflated, opium

addicts began to pay for it using their silver Taels, and Chinese society crumbled. Meanwhile,

the independent British merchants and the East India Trading Company absorbed immense

wealth from Chinas silver as a result.

Document three is similar to Zhidongs expression of rage, but it is related to the

American prohibition of alcohol. Document three is a letter written in 1931 by a housewife living

in Seattle, Washington. The writer, Mrs. Hillyer, called upon the Seattle Bureau of Prohibition

for assistance because her husbands alcoholism had become problematic. She complained that

her husband used their mortgage money to buy whiskey from an illegal bootlegger. The 18th

Constitutional Amendment and the Volstead Act were established to limit issues revolving

around alcohol. However, these legislations only peaked the publics interest in alcohol. The

stricter the government became on banning the substance, the further people would go to buy it.

With high risk and demand, alcoholic beverage prices became almost prohibitive. Like Mr.

Hillyer, many people would waste their savings on alcohol and go broke. The letter shows how

desperate Mrs. Hillyer must have been to be rid of the alcohol as she not only exposed the

bootlegger to the police but also her own husband. She clearly needed to do so as her familys

house was at stake. This was a common scenario during Prohibition. Alcohol led many to

corruption by buying, selling, and hiding it. Mrs. Hillyer mentioned that the bootlegger buried

and hid the whiskey which was a felony.

Since alcohol became a social trend, much like opium in China, underground bars called

speakeasies became commonplace. Large numbers of people would socialize with alcohol
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illegally. Widespread alcoholic enjoyment radicalized many and made the law seem less rigid.

Speakeasies attracted people from all social spheres, from Wall Street businessmen to scandalous

flappers. Speakeasies came to represent the easing social norms that drifted farther and farther

away from conventional values.

The black market success of opium and alcohol resulted in violence as opium triggered

the famous Opium Wars in China and Prohibition was the foundation for modern crime

organizations in the United States. Document four is a letter to Queen Victoria written in 1839

by Lin Zexu, a Qing official. The emperor appointed Zexu to bring an end to the opium crisis in

China. In the letter, Lin criticized the queen for allowing her people to sell opium in China. This

was Lins attempt to eliminate opium at its source. He threatened to decapitate foreign opium

sellers and cut off all sources of opium. Unfortunately, his strategy to intimidate England,

including references to Chinas size, superiority, and immortality, was offensive to the queen.

This letter officially sparked the First Opium War. The intended audience of this letter, Queen

Victoria of England, was significant to the violence that followed because it was her reaction that

caused it. Under Queen Victorias reign, England experienced the Industrial Revolution and

began its imperial pursuit of other countries. England embodied Western power and intrusion of

others. The British imperialism that was occurring through the East India Trading Company was

making headway into China. The Queen saw Chinas population as a profitable opportunity. The

British were very powerful at this point in time and no longer viewed themselves secondary to

China. Therefore, Zexus reference to Chinas superiority offended her. Her reaction was not to

help China but rather to punish it for its civil disobedience. She proceeded by sending the British

Navy to attack China and eventually force reluctant China to succumb to harmful British
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influence through unequal treaties. The letter was intended to help the Chinese people. However,

because of Queen Victorias reaction, it resulted in the loss of even more Chinese lives in the

Opium Wars that followed.

Like Zexus letter, Prohibition in the United States was intended to help the country, but

instead it led to violence. With Prohibition came the publics willingness to tolerate the criminals

that were supplying illegal alcohol. Prohibition also financed criminal organizations since people

were willing to pay high prices for alcohol, and speakeasies provided the perfect environment for

other profitable vice rackets, such as gambling. This environment expanded and solidified

organized crimes presence within the United States. In addition, homicide rates rose

dramatically since corrupt police were paid off, and the public were scared of angering the

increasingly powerful crime groups. Groups such as Al Capones Torrio Gang in Chicago,

Detroits Giannola Gang, and the New York Mafia families became invincible to the public eye.

Document 5, Bullet Proof expressed what little control law enforcement had over the

growing crime syndicate that grew out of the 18th Amendment. Bullet Proof is a political

cartoon that appeared in the Chicago Daily Tribune on April 29, 1926. The cartoon depicted a

small policeman (symbolic of the ineffective police force) trying to shoot down an enormous

armoured man who represented organized crime. The armored man was clearly larger and more

powerful than the police, much like the criminals. Like many other American cities at that time,

Chicago lay in the hands of criminals, not the law. The cartoon depicted what lead to the success

of organized crime, including bootlegging profits. Again, people would spend outrageous

amounts of money on alcohol. The cartoon also showed that crime groups became more

powerful by using their profits to bribe judges, politicians, and government officials. Since no
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criminals were being convicted, the groups gained power in numbers as well.

Document 6 is an excerpt from the Intelligence Unit Bureau of National Revenues

official summary of 1919 to 1936. In this passage, the United States government itself

recognized that during Prohibition, crime in cities increased as a result of bootlegging racketeers.

The subject of the passage, Al Capone, embodied the organized crime syndicate that erupted

from Prohibition. The fact that the government recognized that Public Enemy No. 1 was Al

Capone, a liquor racketeer in Chicago, was evidence of how widespread liquor trafficking had

become. The summary reported a series of wars that were a result of the competitive vice rackets

in Chicago, triggering a rise in murder rates. The untouchable nature of organized crimes power

was evident again when the document reported that the government was only able to convict Al

Capone for tax evasion. Bribed judges frequently turned a blind eye to important evidence. By

the 1930s, it was clear that Prohibition may have kept some citizens sober. However, the

government created one of its most complicated and deeply rooted national problems, and the

effects are still felt today as organized crime persists.

In the Middle East during the 1500s, coffee was a precursor to opium and alcohol as it

symbolized radicalism, drawing consumers to unorthodox coffee shops and stimulated

conversations that challenged the social normalities and the government. Like opium and

alcohol, coffee had many critics. Religious Islamic leaders questioned whether or not it was an

intoxicating drink, since it affected the mind and was addictive if consumed frequently. In 1511,

coffee was even temporarily outlawed in Mecca for a few months. The governor, Khair Beg,

convinced the local council that Muhammad himself would prohibit the drink due to its effects

on the brain. Coffee was put on trial and banned, much like opium and alcohol. Law enforcement
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stormed the streets and burned coffee. Vendors and customers were openly beaten in public,

which was similar to the anti-opium campaigns in China. Even after coffee was legalized, the

government was still weary of coffee shops. Coffee shops were popular locations for radicals to

meet and engage in critical conversations. The high potential profits of coffee shops became well

known, and the number of shops began to skyrocket. This allowed for the radicalism of coffee to

become even more widespread. As a result, coffee beans became a cash crop, much like opium

poppies later. Additionally, people would also play board games in coffee shops, often placing

bets. Since betting was considered immoral under Sharia law, board games were outlawed. This

can be compared to the growing gambling rackets during Prohibition. Coffee challenged the

longstanding religious and governmental authority in the Middle East and divided many in the

same way that opium and alcohol did in China and the United States respectively.

I pledge that I neither gave nor received help on this assignment. -Reilly O. (4/25/17)
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Bibliography:

. "DIVISIONS." Wets & Drys, America in the 1920s, Primary Sources for Teachers, America
in Class, National Humanities Center. Accessed April 22, 2017. http://americainclass.org/
sources/becomingmodern/divisions/text4/text4.htm.

Halsall, Paul. "Modern History Sourcebook: Commissioner Lin: Letter to Queen Victoria,
1839." Internet History Sourcebooks. October 1998. Accessed April 22, 2017. https:/
sourcebooks.fordham.edu /mod/1839lin2.asp.

Helvering, Guy T. "A Narrative Briefly Descriptive of the Period 1919 to 1936." Historical
Documents relating to Alphonse (Al) Capone, Chicago. August 18, 2012. Accessed April
22, 2017. https://www.irs.gov/uac/ historical-documents-relating-to-alphonse-al-capone-
chicago.

Kavieff, Paul R. The Violent Years: Prohibition and the Detroit Mobs. Fort Lee: Barricade,
2014.

Standage, Tom. A History of the World in Six Glasses. London: Atlantic, 2007.

Strayer, Robert W., and Eric W. Nelson. Ways of the World: A Global History with Sources. 3rd
ed. Ways of the World. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2016.

Usher, Shaun. "Will you please have his place raided?" Letters of Note. February 28, 2012.
Accessed April 22, 2017. http://www.lettersofnote.com/ 2012/02/ will-you-please-have-
his-place-raided.html.

Zhidong, Zhang. Chinas Only Hope: An Appeal. New York: Revell, 1900.
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Evidence Documents

Document 1

Source: Photograph of Chinese opium addicts in an underground Chinese opium den around
1900, taken by a foreign visitor.

Document 2

Source: Zhang Zhidong (1837-1909), Qing Dynasty court official, Chinas Only Hope: An
Appeal, published in China 1900. Chapter IX. Cast Out The Poison.

The Customs' Returns for the past few years give the value of our imports at 80,000,000 Taels,
and the exports at 50,000,000 Taels. The balance of thirty million Taels represents what has
been consumed in smoking the pernicious opium pipe. Assuredly it is not foreign intercourse
that is ruining China, but this dreadful poison. Oh, the grief and desolation it has brought to
our people! A hundred years ago the curse came upon us more blasting and deadly in its
effects than the Great Flood or the scourge of the Fierce Beasts, for the waters assuaged after
nine years, and the ravages of the maneaters were confined to one place. Opium has spread
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with frightful rapidity and heartrending results through the provinces. Millions upon millions
have been struck down by the plague. Today it is running like wildfire. In its swift, deadly
course it is spreading devastation everywhere, wrecking the minds and eating away the
strength and wealth of its victims. The ruin of the mind is the most woeful of its many
deleterious effects. The poison enfeebles the will, saps the strength of the body, renders the
consumer incapable of performing his regular duties, and unfit for travel from one place to
another. It consumes his substance and reduces the miserable wretch to poverty, barrenness,
and senility. Unless something is soon done to arrest this awful scourge in its devastating
march, the Chinese people will be transformed into satyrs and devils. This is the present
condition of our country.

Document 3

Source: Letter written by housewife, Mrs. Hillyer, to Seattle Bureau of Prohibition calling for
the raid of a Chinese bootlegger, September 22, 1931.

Dear Sir:

My husband is in the habit of buying a quart of whiskey every other day from a Chinese
bootlegger named Chin Waugh living at 317-16th near Alder street.

We need this money for household expenses. Will you please have his place raided? He keeps
a supply planted in the garden and a smaller quantity under the back steps for quick delivery. If
you make the raid at 9:30 any morning you will be sure to get the goods and Chin also as he
leaves the house at 10 o'clock and may clean up before he goes.

Thanking you in advance,

I remain
yours truly,

Mrs. Hillyer

Document 4

Source: Letter to Queen Victoria of England by Lin Zexu, Qing Dynasty official and appointed
head anti-opium campaign, 1839.

Our celestial empire rules over ten thousand kingdoms! Most surely do we possess a
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measure of godlike majesty which ye cannot fathom! Still we cannot bear to slay or
exterminate without previous warning, and it is for this reason that we now clearly make
known to you the fixed laws of our land. If the foreign merchants of your said honorable
nation desire to continue their commercial intercourse, they then must tremblingly obey
our recorded statutes, they must cut off for ever the source from which the opium flows,
and on no account make an experiment of our laws in their own persons! Let then your
highness punish those of your subjects who may be criminal, do not endeavor to screen
or conceal them, and thus you will secure peace and quietness to your possessions, thus
will you more than ever display a proper sense of respect and obedience, and thus may
we unitedly enjoy the common blessings of peace and happiness. What greater joy! What
more complete felicity than this!

Let your highness immediately, upon the receipt of this communication, inform us
promptly of the state of matters, and of the measure you are pursuing utterly to put a
stop to the opium evil. Please let your reply be speedy. Do not on any account make
excuses or procrastinate. A most important communication.

P. S. We annex an abstract of the new law, now about to be put in force. "Any foreigner or
foreigners bringing opium to the Central Land, with design to sell the same, the principals
shall most assuredly be decapitated, and the accessories strangled; and all property
(found on board the same ship) shall be confiscated. The space of a year and a half is
granted, within the which, if any one bringing opium by mistake, shall voluntarily step
forward and deliver it up, he shall be absolved from all consequences of his crime."

Document 5

Source: Bullet Proof, political cartoon by Carey Orr, published in Chicago Daily Tribune,
United States, April 29, 1926.
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Document 6

Source: Passage from Intelligence Unit Bureau of National Revenues official summary of
1919 to 1936, United States.

Al Capone-Public Enemy No. 1:

Vicious Crime Organization Revealed

Chicago had gained an international reputation from 1924 to 1930 because of organized
lawlessness. Gang killings were a frequent occurrence. The most notorious leader of organized
crime in that city and in the nation was Al Capone, known as "Scarface Al, and termed by the
newspapers as Public Enemy No. 1 of the United States. There is no doubt that he was the
most vicious and dangerous racketeer in the history of this country. His reign as vice overlord
began in 1924, when he succeeded Johnny Torrio, and continued up to the time of his
conviction on the charge of evading income taxes, October 17, 1931.

Immediately upon his succession to the throne of gangdom in Chicago, there was a series of
gang wars. Rival factions sought to displace his control of underworld activities. There were
16 murders from gang casualties in 1924. Wars between gangs continued until 1929. The
murder record rose to 64 in one year.