Essay on Case Analysis on Prohibition

Prohibition took place from 1920-1933. This was a constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation and the sale of alcohol. It began to fail immediately private ownership and consumption were not made made illegal under federal law, but local laws were much stricter some states even banning possession of alcohol. In the 20’s laws were widely disregarded and tax revenues were lost. After all the effort to ban alcohol prohibition led to the 21st amendment. This made alcohol legal once again. Even though alcohol was legal again some states continued to ban alcohol. Many people still believe that prohibition failed but banning alcohol cut the regular amount of alcohol consumption in half. Even though it might have seemed pretty good with cutting the alcohol it wasn’t all that great.

Prohibition was the eighteenth amendment. It prohibited the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages. People would have never thought of "excoriating" alcohol until the 19th century (Tyrrell 16). During this time widespread crime and dismay arose. Some beneficial things did come out of this period of chaos such as women were able to prove themselves as people their temperance movements. During this time many things happened that led to Prohibition's strongest point and to its fall. Prohibition proved to be a failure from the start,. Prohibition was scarcely adhered to and also widely defied but out of this women had a chance to voice their opinions and prove themselves.

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

Bootlegging is the making, selling and distribution of illegal goods such as alcohol. Many things lead into bootlegging but the main cause was the passing of prohibition. Bootlegging became a worldwide crisis in certain situations such as the critical rise of crime rates. There were many crimes, or criminal investigations that went on during the time of prohibition such as bootlegging, gang violence, and the modifications of cars to run from police also known as “rum-running.” It was a time of drastic criminal activity. There were many after effects of bootlegging such as the United States gaining a corrupt government, and

When caught bootlegging liquor you would be issued a fine, this made things alright because everyone was happy, the laws were so hard to enforce that the government was just happy collecting fine money and the bootleggers were happy cause it was a small price to pay for the amount of money they were making. The most ironic thing about prohibition is that it is the major bases for what we call organized crime.

The making of homemade alcohol, also known as bathtub gin or bootleg alcohol, increased during Prohibition. During prohibition, no one could produce, manufacture, transport, or sell alcohol; so people began making their own, and it wasn’t always the safest thing to drink. People would put any kinds of ingredients in their bootleg alcohol, “bootleg liquor is so concentrated and almost invariably contains other and more deadly poisons than mere ethyl alcohol.” Because no one could produce alcohol, anyone who wanted to could make their own. Homemade alcohol started becoming increasingly popular, and it resulted in many deaths because most of the time it was dangerous to ingest. Deaths because of homemade alcohol started climbing more and more, “the death rate from poisoned liquor was appallingly high throughout the country. In 1925, the national toll was 4,154 as compared to 1,064 in 1920 (Thornton).” Thus, the new trend of homemade alcohol was not a good one. Prohibition influenced this unlawful behavior, and it resulted in an increase of deaths. The approval of the 18th amendment produced many problems that could’ve been

The alcohol prohibition also known, as the “noble experiment” was a time when the citizens of the United States were tested of their sanity, loyalty, and respect of the law and government. On January 16, 1920 alcohol was banned from the nation we live in today and all purchase and consumption of liquor was illegal. In the beginning of the Prohibition era the public had a general acceptance and by 1933 when the Prohibition ended the public was annoyed with the law, the law enforcers, and the government. The banning of alcohol throughout the nation didn’t just happen over night. For many years, dating back into the 1800’s, people were creating groups that were against alcohol.

People were jailed regularly, moonshiners struggled to find new ways to provide a normal life for their families, and crime syndicates were at an all time high with the rising profits from bootlegging. Police officers turned into criminals, law abiding citizens reputations were tarnished because they drink illegally. Tho throughout all this misery there still stood completely elated those who felt like the prohibition of alcoholic beverages was in the best interest of the whole America. Wayne Wheeler felt extremely accomplished and proud to know that his feelings towards drinking were felt by the people in charge who took a stand against alcoholism. Basically there was a wide spectrum on the affects that occurred during the period of prohibition those being good or bad. You’ll be excited to learn that eventually due to the causes and affects of the 18th Amendment it was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment, also the 18th Amendment to this day remains the only Amendment in the over 200 years of the Constitution to ever be

In the 1920s, the 18th Amendment banned a person's right to manufacture and purchase liquor. Banning the transportation, manufacture,and sale of intoxicating beverages was known as prohibition, the most fought over law of the 1920’s. Prohibition was firmly backed by the government and the women in the United States that were also being abused. Important groups of

The public reaction to the introduction of Prohibition was largely mixed. The temperance organizations rejoiced at their victory. Over a century of work had finally paid off for them. The rest of the country, however, was less than pleased. Many saw it as a violation of their freedom, and others simply wanted to keep drinking. It did not take long for people to begin their protest. Less than one hour after prohibition took effect six gunmen hijacked a train in Chicago and stole over $100,000 worth of whiskey that was marked for medicinal use (Gingold 28). In New York, although there were no violent protests recorded that night, people all over the city mourned the loss of alcohol at their favorite saloon or restaurant, and drank a final toast at midnight (John ... Toll of 12).

     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).

The prohibition wasn’t able to prevent the production or the sale of alcohol. Many people were upset with the new laws and thought they were silly, so they didn’t care about breaking them. Alcohol was easy to produce without attracting the attention of authorities. It became common for people to simply make their own alcohol at home. Some even began producing gin in their home bathtubs, and it was called “bathtub gin”.

As a result of this new law, a new social problem arose. “Seldom has law been more flagrantly violated. Not only did Americans continue to manufacture, barter, and possess alcohol; they drank more of it.” Americans who supported prohibition, argued that if drinking alcohol was illegal, the public would recognize and respect the law, and in turn, would give it up. During the start of prohibition, it appeared as though it was working. But, what was really going on, was that since the transportation and production was not allowed, bootleggers had to find ways to do it without being caught. The price of beer rose, because it had to be transported in large barrels, which was more difficult. As a result, people started drinking more potent hard liquor. It took less to get drunk, therefore it was easier to transport, thus, it was cheaper. Americans would drink this potent liquor and get drunk a lot faster, for less money. As a downfall, however, the liquor had no standards. The rate of alcohol related deaths due to poisoning drastically increased from 1,064 in 1920, to 4,154 in 1925.

People lost their jobs in the alcohol industry and the economy dropped off. Revenue from the tax on alcohol was eliminated, causing several states to lose large amounts of money. The failure of the economy was a large reason as to why the sale and manufacture of alcohol had to be reimplemented

Prohibition was widely popular in the United States. The Anti Saloon League, founded in 1893 in Oberlin, Ohio began life as a state organization. After 1895 the League became a powerful national organization. The League was a non-partisan organization their only focus was on prohibition.