Prohobition Essays

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

Though Prohibition was highly contested as a failure, there were change in lives as alcohol consumption dropped by at least 30%. Resistance was concentrated in ethnic communities where recent immigrants saw no harm in drinking, and among the urban upper classes who were able to afford the high price of bootleg liquor and inclined to regard it as culturally sophisticated to ignore the dry law. Sparked hidden inventiveness as other citizens, both urban and rural, took advantage of Volstead Act loopholes allowing the personal use of wine fermented from natural fruit juices and the prescribing of spirits for medicinal use. “Immediately after the official start of Prohibition in January 1920, problems of day-to-day enforcement surfaced with alarming regularity.” Some saw the demand for illegal alcohol consumption as a business opportunity supplied said demand, thus Organized Crime arose more. Prohibition was intertwined with the culture of the twenties, which introduced a culture steered in rebellion, flappers, speakeasies, and bootlegging. Women were able to rebel against traditional conservation as they had shorter hair, dresses, and

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 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

"The drinking of alcoholic beverages became an act of rebellion against authority from the beginning of Prohibition, especially among university students and flappers." Alcohol consumption did increase over Prohibition years, "$40 million of liquor had been smuggled into the United States in 1924" alone and that did not include the amount of alcohol which people made illegally in their own homes, which was most likely consumed that same year as well. There was a decrease in the consumption of beer, because it had to be transported in large quantities, which made the substance difficult to hide, as a result prices of beer and other alcoholic substances which had to be transported in such large quantities skyrocketed. Once this had happened people began to turn to the more concentrated forms of alcohol or "hard liquors", which were a lot easier to transport and as a consequence they were cheaper. Due to the increase in consumption of more concentrated forms of alcohol, people got drunk much faster than in pre - prohibition years. Consequently there were more alcohol related deaths during the Prohibition, due to a rise in alcohol consumption, as people were being poisoned by alcohol that was highly concentrated and or poisoned. "Deaths from poisoned liquor rose from 1,064 in 1920 to 4,154 in 1925."

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.

The 1920’s was a huge, significant time for the United States. One of the most important parts of this time is the Prohibition Era. What is Prohibition? Prohibition is defined as the banning of alcohol use. On July 22nd 1919, this idea was put into action using the 18th amendment. The 18th amendment forbade the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol (Lapsanky-Werner 229). This amendment was enforced by the Volstead Act, named after Andrew Volstead. This act was not very effective, and alcohol consumption was at an all-time high. It was said that most Americans became criminals overnight because they resisted this act. The people against the prohibition were known as “Wet’s” and the supporters of the

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.

The 18th amendment was ratified by congress on January 16, 1919 in which the selling and distribution of “intoxicating liquors” was banned. That was the start of what many called the dry decade in the United States. Norman H. Clark’s Deliver Us from Evil: An Interpretation of American Prohibition illustrates the struggles to make the dry decade possible and the consequences that followed it. The 235 page text describes how the Anti-Saloon League was determined to make prohibition possible and the struggles they had to overcome. As well as what directly followed once it was a reality.

During World War 1 president Woodrow Wilson called for a prohibition of alcohol to save the grain for food. During that same year, Congress passed the 18th Amendment, banning manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol. People did indeed still drink, although illegally. This was known as “bootlegging, speakeasies, moonshine, and bathtub gin.” The price of bootleg liquor was extremely high, yet many still spent the money so they could drink it. With the start of the Great Depression, jobs were in need. When President Roosevelt was elected, he called for the prohibition to be appealed. And on December 5th, 1933, Congress passed the 21st Amendment, recalling the 18th Amendment.(history.com)

In the roaring twenties the idea of a dry age was crossing the minds of many citizens in the states. During this time, the economy was starting to boom. As society was booming, the temperance movement started to cause problems in the system. Most people went along with the idea that drinking was bad and needed to be put to an end but they still wanted to drink. Other problems are brought up about all of the job loss that this prohibition would cause. Prohibition was created to reform social behaviors and uprising crimes caused by this dry state that later led to the revocation of the 18th amendment.

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.

The last thing that the country wants is to have death rates go up, which is never good. Even though this was back in the 1920s and the deaths weren't that much, it was someone's life and it ended because of alcohol. When people would drink, their seeing and ability to think would become impaired, causing bad choices and leading to major injuries and in some cases death. Congress thought that putting Prohibition into action would help these cases and prevent deaths. Document F explains that 1910-1918 deaths from alcohol were 4.4-5.8 per 100,000 people. It was high during Prohibition and then gradually decreased when it was repealed. This tells us that when alcohol was banned people went to extremes to get it and sell it, some did it for money but others did it for consumption. Bootleggers would do everything in their power to get ahold of alcohol even killing people to get it. This evidence of deaths tell people that they are in danger and it might make people uncomfortable and unsafe to go out in their community. That is why congress would want to repeal Prohibition because of its effect on the people and death

During the late 19th century and early 20th century the United States saw many political reforms that would bring the nation back into a positive and moral state after a bloody civil war tore the country apart. It is said that the average American over the age of 15 during the time prior Prohibition drank almost seven gallons of pure alcohol a year. Prohibition was a period of time in which the average citizen broke the law because alcohol was a major part of citizens’ lives and the restrictions on the sale, transportation, and manufacturing of alcoholic beverages illegal. The urbanized North and Midwest were against Prohibition and the rural West and South supported the ban of alcohol. Even though that the issue of Prohibition was a

During the 1920s, due to the rise in temperance movements and religious drive to outlaw the consumption of alcohol, Prohibition was officially instated. Unprepared for by the government, a new illegal business opportunity resulted because many Americans were defiant towards the new amendment and were determined to drink as they saw fit. This was the illegal importation and distribution of liquor in the United States. Due to the enactment of Prohibition, the unlawful smuggling of alcohol provided economic opportunities for few but affected the majority with its health, legal, and safety risks.