Prohibition in the Great Gatsby

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

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America became a dry nation on January 17, 1920, it would remain a dry nation for the next 12 years when it was finally repealed in December of 1933.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?

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from society, Prohibition actually instigated a national drinking spree that held constant until Prohibition was repealed.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 caused gangs and organized crime to thrive in the 1920’s. Big gangsters made fortunes off of bootlegging, or the illegal make and distribution of alcohol, and speakeasies, illegal clubs or bars that sold alcohol. Al Capone of Chicago was one of the most well known gangsters of the time. He made up to $60 million dollars annually bootlegging and running speakeasies

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.

Thesis: Although prohibition's goal was to increase a sense of integrity in the United States, it encouraged normally law-abiding citizens to break the law, enabled the growth and influence of organized crime, and increased levels of corruption in government and law-enforcement.

The prohibition of alcohol was a mistake that the United States government made in the 1920s. Making alcohol illegal led to a decrease in tax revenue and an increase in government spending. The government started Prohibition to produce more money, but it was actually lost. Prohibition also led to an increase in organized crime. Citizens wanted alcohol, so they tried to do whatever it took to obtain it. Lastly, the prohibition of alcohol caused some government officials to be corrupt. The government officials chose to function off of their own self interests rather than what the government wanted them to do. Overall, Prohibition was a waste of time for the United States government and its citizens.

The 1920s are usually characterized as a time of care-free, social rebellion against the restricting ideals of the post WWI world, but it has a darker side than this. Prisons populations and crime rates rose to an all time high from where they were pre-Prohibition. Gangsters soon became the richest, most powerful men in the country and all due to the bootlegging of liquor. In New York and Chicago especially, the gangs were as diverse as the people living there, all fighting to control their areas, causing insane amounts of violence and death. Although Prohibition's aim was to decrease drunkenness and crime, it would ultimately cause more harm than good with the emergence of speakeasies which kept people drunk and gangs who increased crime

Prohibition was a period of time in which the sale, manufacture, or transport of alcoholic beverages became illegal. It started January 16, 1919 and continued to December 5, 1933. Although it was designed to put an end to all drinking, it simply created a large number of bootleggers who produced and sold illegal alcohol. Many of these bootleggers became very rich and influential through selling alcohol and also through other methods. They pioneered the practices of organized crime that are still used today. Thus, Prohibition led to the rapid growth of organized crime.

Plus bootleg alcoholic beverages like beer and whisky were created, the whole drinking scene was slowly starting to look like its former self. The most confusing statistic is that before prohibition there were less speakeasies then there were during prohibition. So therefore the introduction of prohibition had actually increased America's alcohol intake rate. When Prohibition started it opened up an opportunity for local gangsters to make some money and then expand their business and many of them took this opportunity. Probably the most famous of all the gangsters was called Al Capone.

Evidently prohibition had created a new set of evils possibly worse than the old and far worse than the pros of prohibition. Not only did it impact certain people, but the entire U.S. as

They became rich and powerful by providing speakeasies and others who were willing to buy their alcohol. Some bootleggers got their alcohol from other countries. “The first large-scale organized criminal activity of the Prohibition Era was smuggling…The manufacture, importation, and sale of alcoholic beverages were perfectly legal in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean,” (Cohen). During the Roaring Twenties, someone who bought alcohol from other countries had to smuggle the alcoholic beverages inside the country. “As soon as Prohibition went into effect there was a dramatic increase in Mexican imports of scotch whiskey from Britain. The Mexicans weren't drinking more; eventually all of this whiskey made its way north across the border” (Cohen). 0Bootleggers were powerful and rich and became one of the biggest reasons for the increase of organized crime in the Era of Prohibition.

Because liquor was no longer legally available, the public turned to gangsters who took on the bootlegging industry and supplied them with liquor. Because the industry was so immensely profitable, more gangs participated. As a result of the money involved in the bootlegging industry, there was much

Some states such as New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts did not enforce the prohibition act of 1920, causing funds to drop to the states for law enforcement agencies(GILDER). The prohibition Caused the rise of organized crime in the United States. Prohibition stated the creation of toxic moonshine, bootleggers used lead coils and lead soldering putting lead in moonshine(PEARSON). Others put additives in moonshine such as iodine and creosote causing blindness or even death. Over 12,000 people died from toxic moonshine Al Capone made over 60 million dollars from Bootlegging that’s 60 million dollars other US citizens lose. Many Bootleggers used Industrial alcohol in Products. The Federal Government started putting more poisonous chemicals in industrial alcohol causing over 10,000 deaths from consumption(PEARSON).Overall there are more negative effects of prohibition in the 1920’s. From poisonous alcohol to enforcement budget cuts it is all negative and is why prohibition failed. Even though prohibition stopped some americans from drinking alcohol it created a new door for new kinds of alcohol to come in to the US. Prohibition is bad in my opinion because it caused unnecessary deaths in america. That sets a final ending to the 18th Amendment in the 1920’s and forever

Prohibition created more crime because it was leading to corruption and the “cure” was worse than the original problem (Sifakis 725). The number of crimes increased during the Prohibition which caused organized crime to be very “popular”. Many criminal groups had a regular income of money through illegal actions such as drinking and selling alcohol (Organized Crime and Prohibition 1). Alcohol increased the organized crimes during Prohibition through loopholes in the 18th Amendment, speakeasies, doctor’s prescriptions, and bootlegging.