Argument Against Prohibition

The Prohibition Amendment took effect on January 16, 1920. The eighteenth Amendment outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol in the United States until it was repealed on December 5, 1933. The excessive amount of alcohol consumed primarily by men often resulted in violence, poor work performance, and wasteful spending of wages on alcohol, which were needed to support their families. Although the Prohibition Amendment did decrease alcohol-related felonies it created more organized crime and an increase of economic problems.

According to Leslie Gordon in “ The New Crusade, Cleveland,” said, “if the liquor now sold by bootleggers was legally sold regulated, and taxed, the (tax) income would pay the interest on the entire local and national (debt) and leave more than $200,000,000…”(Doc E). This telling that if the government repealed prohibition they can made a lot of money from taxing the liquor. However, the political cartoon by Winsor McCay in document a show a big word “Depression” lay in the foreground (Doc A). This means that the Great Depression is coming and affect not only for American but perhaps for prohibition and criminals as well. Prohibition affect government loss of million dollar and it also created the Great Depression

The prohibition caused much controversy in the 1920’s. The 18th amendment was passed on Jan 16, 1920, it said in Title II, Section 3 the National Prohibition Act states that "No person shall on or after the date when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States goes into effect, manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized in this act." (United States constitution). The Prohibition opened up many big business opportunities in the illegal marketing of alcohol. The people who took advantage of this opportunity were known as “Bootleggers”. With the enactment of this law organized crime was established, allowing men such as Al Capone to capitalize

In 1919, The US ratified the 18th Amendment which is declared illegal to manufacture, transport, and sell alcoholic beverages. Between from 1920 to 1933 America has promulgated prohibition who drunk because most men drunk in most times even during break time off work. They gradually lost their control and taking abuse, crime on their children. A lot of problems happened in the family like violence, fighting, and the worse thing is the divorce. Drunken men who did not work at all would not be able to afford, provide, and care for their families. America repealed Prohibition for three main reasons during this time: the Volstead Act because it was a law, the act of Congress that helped to prevent people from selling alcohol, illegal but it failed, Progressive Movement because it showed how many serious problems happened behind drinking that affected to life, and social evils of drinking. While there are three main causes, the most significant cause the repeal of Prohibition in America was social evils or consequences of drinking because in (Doc. B) homicides increased which made crime raised and thousands of Americans killed, the scenes of the US government (Doc.D) because the governor violated the law, and depression (Doc. A) because Uncle Sam, the US government worked with gangsters, racketeer, bootlegger, and dope seller.

Between 1900 and 1913 more Americans began to drink more and more alcohol with the production of beer jumping from 1.2 million to 2 billion gallons; three times more alcohol than the average American drinks now.1 Prohibition was a movement sparked by women since women thought they were the ones who suffered the most from the cause of alcohol and women though that alcohol was a threat to a happy family. Women wanted to pass prohibition because many men would go to saloons and go home and be abusive towards their wives and children. Women and other groups eventually got 46 of the 48 states to ratify the 18th amendment on January 16, 1919.2 The 18th amendment on article one says, "...the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited."3 The first article on the 18th amendment is saying that the sale, making, or even bringing liquor into the United States or any of the United States' territory will now be illegal. Prohibition began to show its weakness right away when the United Sates government did not show much support. After the first year of prohibition the American people started to show less support and even led to organized crime. In 1933, the United States Constitution was amended to repeal the 18th amendment in the form of the 21st amendment.4 Even

Prohibition was undertaken to reduce crime, reduce corruption, and solve social problems in America but it failed on all accounts. Prohibition had the exact opposite effect on people than its original purpose was. Instead of removing alcohol from society, Prohibition actually instigated a national drinking spree that held constant until Prohibition was repealed. Felix Von Luckner said, “My observations have convinced me that many fewer would drink were it not illegal” (Von Luckner, 2). He believed that the law against alcohol manufacturing just instigated more drinking. The people during this period in time were so rebellious that they would do the opposite of anything that they were told to do. This had a huge contribution to the failure of Prohibition. Due to the failure of Prohibition, America’s society had fallen spiral to a drinking spree (Batchelor, 1). Many believed that the main cause of the failure of Prohibition was the breakdown of the enforcement agencies. In Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia said, “The Prohibition Enforcement Unit has entirely broken down. It is discredited; it has become a joke…” (La Guardia, 2). The Roaring Twenties’ prosperity was lost due to the failure of the Prohibition Enforcement Unit. If the law was stronger and better enforced, Prohibition could have succeeded. This was very detrimental to society because it showed the

Prohibition, a word that defined an era. “The Eighteenth Amendment of the constitution was ratified in January 1919 and was enacted in January 1920, which outlawed the manufacturing of intoxicating beverages as well as the transportation of intoxicating liquors.” The forging of this amendment came from the culmination of decades of effort from many different organizations such as Women’s Christian Temperance Union as well as the Anti-Saloon League. When America became a dry nation on January 17, 1920, it would remain a dry nation for the next 12 years when it was finally repealed in December of 1933. This amendment being put into place caused tens of thousands of distilleries, breweries, and saloons across America to be compelled to close their doors, as America embarked on a very controversial era known as the Prohibition Era. Prohibition was being implemented on a national scale now and being enshrined in the Constitution no less. What followed was a litany of unintended consequences throughout America. Did prohibition really help America, or did prohibition trigger a landslide of problems in America?

The Prohibition Era was a period of time when the entire nation was expected to be alcohol-free, or “dry”. In January 1919, prohibitionists achieved the ratification of the eighteenth amendment to the constitution, “forbidding the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors.” The activists in the Temperance Movement had lobbied and pushed for this ratification for decades. Temperance activists consisted of women, church members, and employers. The main concern was centered around the idea that liquor made alcoholics and irresponsible people. The widespread support for the liquor ban was reflected in its approval by more

went up and more people were homeless and prisons became full. The courts and prisons

Imagine that you’re having a gathering or party. Everything is ready to go and then you remember that the 18th amendment prohibits you from buying liquor/alcohol. The party was supposed to be a blast, but how can you have a blast without alcohol or liquor. Prohibition was the 18th amendment. It stated that it was illegal to manufacture, transport, and sell alcoholic beverages in the United States. The Volstead Act added to the 18th amendment almost 9 months after. It added that when the 18th amendment went to affect, it was against the law to barter, import, export, deliver, furnish, or posses intoxicating liquor. Of course, drinking/usage was also banned, except for authorized purposes. Then it was repealed. It was the first, and only amendment in U.S history to be revoked.

The late comedian W.C jokingly said,” Once, during the Prohibition, I was forced to live on for days on nothing but food and water. Even Though, he said this as a joke it was true for majority of the public. The days before the 18th amendment was passed many depended upon liquor. At one point the use of alcohol became abuse. Then on January 16, 1919 the 18th Amendment was ratified so alcohol could not take over the life of Americans, but it didn't go quite as planned. The Prohibition banned the manufacturing, sale, and transportation of alcohol and the desperate ones found loopholes in this simple amendment. The Eighteenth Amendment was ultimately passed to keep a healthy working society and it was repealed because of the increasing organized crime and illegal activities all over the country.

Although the temperance movement was concerned with the habitual drunk, its primary goal was total abstinence and the elimination of liquor. With the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, the well-organized and powerful political organizations, utilizing no holds barred political tactics, successfully accomplished their goal. Prohibition became the law of the land on January 16, 1920; the manufacturing, importation, and sale of alcohol was no longer legal in the United States. Through prohibition, America embarked on what became labeled “the Nobel Experiment.” However, instead of having social redeeming values as ordained, prohibition had the opposite effect of its intended purpose, becoming a catastrophic failure.

Protestants, urban political progressives, those of old-world religion, and the women’s temperance unions all agreed upon one thing: the outlaw of alcohol consumption in the United States. For many years, these groups all rallied to have this outlaw take place, this outlaw would later be known as Prohibition. In 1913, crusaders gathered in Washington, they marched and demanded change. In “The War on Alcohol” Lisa McGirr states, “Antiliquor crusaders worked to educate the public about the dangers of alcohol through posters, pamphlets, graphs and charts” (19).  Progressives blamed alcohol for many other “dirty” problems such as domestic violence, gambling and prostitution. What was commonly referred to as the Volstead Act (National Prohibition Act) was sent to the states by Congress on December 18,1917, it was passed on October 28,1919, and ratified on January 16, 1919 and the country went dry one year later when the eighteenth amendment went into effect on January 20,1919. Prohibition was a ban on producing, importing, transporting and selling alcohol beverages. While the goal of the ban was to reduce alcohol consumption and clean up the country, what it really did was cause organized crime to skyrocket, detrimentally affect local and national economies and ultimately cause people to drink a more potent alcohol that was far worse for them.

     Prohibition had become an issue long before its eventual induction as the 18th amendment in 1920. Organizations came about for the sole purpose of an alcohol free America. In 1833, an estimated one million Americans belonged to some type of temperance association (Behr 12). Many believed the absence of alcohol would help the poor as well as big business. Lower class people would put more money into savings accounts and productivity would increase among workers (Hanson 27). More importantly the “noble experiment”—was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, and improve the health and hygiene in America” (Thorton 1).

Prohibition and United States Society in 1920's Prohibition was the legal ban on the manufacture and sale of alcohol. It was introduced in 1919 and was viewed as the answer to many of America's problems. It was thought that the end of alcohol in America would spark a new and greater society in America. People believed that it would reduce crime, drunkenness, violence and that it would reduce families in poverty because the men would not go out spending all the money on 'alcohol.'