relatable

WSLS should have done a series and a deeper dive on this subject, perhaps a docu-series. I would like to take a shot and say i'd love to be a part of their research team. Let me know WSLS. 😅

This article ignores the cultural history of the Scots-Irish people of the region. Their families were making liquor back in the old countries long before the United States existed. Draconian tax laws brought on by Prohibition made the matters worse for a marginalized and isolated people who had few ways to get money. The same sort of problem triggered the first insurrection in 1794, the Whiskey Rebellion. During Prohibition, the federal government even resorted to poisoning products containing alcohol, such as Jamaican ginger, and the resulting disability from neurological damage was known as Jake Leg, from which we get the term jackleg. It also led to the growth of the Mafia and other crime groups that continue to this day. It would have been much better to leave the Scots-Irish alone to their own devices.

Ferrum 1979

The government wouldn’t care if they got there cut of the action .

A lot of drunk people in them days