Prohibition Movement Dbq

Proponents of prohibition are quick to argue how crime technically decreased in its fourteen years before being repealed. While this is true for minor crimes of the times like mischief and vagrancy, organized crime saw a sharp increase once the Eighteenth Amendment outlawed alcoholic substances. While the Volstead Act was passed to enforce the amendment, and had an immediate amount of success, it was also attributed to an increase in the homicide rate to 10 per 100,000 population during the 1920s, a 78 percent increase over the pre-Prohibition period rate of 5.8 per 100,000.

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eighteenth Amendment outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol in the United States until it was repealed on December 5, 1933.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.

Two important movements during the mid-1800s were the Temperance Movement and the Women’s Rights Movement. The Temperance movement wanted the immoral behaviors of those who used Alcohol to end. In fact, non-religious groups, especially the Factory owners, saw it as a way to increase productivity and reduce crime, as they associated drunkenness and crime with the lower classes. In order to do so, it wanted to persuade alcoholics to total abstinence form drinking. It was successful in influencing Maine to prohibit the manufacturing or sale of alcoholic beverages. The Women’s Rights Movement gained extra popularity during this time period because of the desire of the influential women to be treated equally. After the Lowell system showed women could be employed and economically support themselves, the women wanted to have more equal and fair representation in their government. For this reason, leaders, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, organized the Seneca Falls Convention where they outlined why and how society and the government should accept women as equal to

Thesis: Though the primary purpose of the Prohibition was to prevent harmful effects caused by alcohol and improve the condition of society, many unexpected adverse effects followed. Thus, when the nation legislates the law which regulates something addictive or harmful, it is necessary to be cautious and examine it carefully before executing it, for the situation can get worse and turn into catastrophe.

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 temperance movement is what started the prohibition. The temperance movement of the 19th century was a movement that tried to moderate the consumption of alcohol and they pressed for complete absence of alcohol. The movement

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

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

Prohibition had existed way before the whole country grew into chaos and terror trying to ban alcohol throughout United States. It was the act of banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol. In the early 1700s, many colonists directed Prohibition towards the Native Americans. Colonists created local laws that prevented people from selling or trading alcohol to them. They were concerned with their behavior due to alcohol. Although there were laws with the ideas of Prohibition, the laws were not enforced. This allowed liquor trade to continue and created a critical effect on the use of alcohol by Native Americans. In the 1900s, Prohibition did well trying to stop the promotion and the process of alcohol, but caused disruption, crime, and confusion

Corruption and hypocrisy flooded the Congress building rooms and hallways. The men that created the Prohibition law, violated it. In the article The Inside of Prohibition, Mabel Willebrandt provides insight of the corruption through personal experiences. Concealed by the walls of the Congress building, “bootleggers infest the halls and corridors... and ply their trade”. The Congressmen must feel as though they are above the law, constantly “patronizing bootleggers” and “appearing on the floors in a drunken condition”.

William H. Stayton, the founder and leader of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, argued that prohibition was a failure (Dudley 94). John Gordon Cooper, a previous railroad worker, believed that prohibition was a success (Dudley 93). Prohibition was a failure because drinking increased and enforcement was failing.

Prohibition led to a very different change in economic and social standing then what was initially anticipated. Having once set out to outlaw alcohol, women would find freedom and social reform in the aftermath. The Eighteenth Amendment would lead women into social expansion, allowing them to penetrate a once dominate male society, challenge public behavior and promote new fiscal opportunities to the female community. It was the strong will women of this era possessed that led to the prohibition of 1918, hoping to not only restrict the use of liquor, but to also prevent the domestic abuse and finical burden that accompanied.

The main proponents of Prohibition were women and religious leaders. Women were the main cause behind the temperance movement. They sought to ban alcohol to bring back family structure and reduce domestic abuse. Many link women’s suffrage with the temperance movement. However, if women had not supported the Prohibitions I believe they would have received their right to vote earlier and with a much easier process than what had actually occurred.

Firstly, Prohibition prominently displayed the power and influence of a lobby group in social and government spheres. For example, the Women’s War can be attributed to the closing of over 25,000 drinking establishments (Hill 12). This shows the major effects that the ASL, Anti-Saloon League, had on the social perceptions on drinking; the establishments only closed because they were either visited by large mobs of people or were suspecting they