The 18th Amendment And Prohibition

During the 1920’s there was an experiment in the U.S. “The Prohibition”, this experiment, made by the government, was written as the 18th amendment. The prohibition led to the bootlegging, increase in crimes, and gang wars.

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became a dry nation on January 17, 1920, it would remain a dry nation for the next 12 years when it was finally repealed in December of 1933.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

In the United States, the 18th Amendment was designed to avoid issues and prohibit all various alcohol. In many ways, the citizens of the United States disregarded the law and still found diverse ways to obtain alcohol. The worsening effects of the Amendment played a vital role in the Prohibition Era, in which the law caused the citizens to encounter themselves in violence and barbarity to our nation. The Amendment also created the arise of leaders including Al Capone in which almost gained power of authority in the city of Chicago in which generated intense brutality to our nation. I definitely agree with the idea that the Prohibition Era offered us the citizens of the United States a warning about the various dangers of the outlaw of alcohol

January 1920, the opening year of the 18th Amendment that sought banning “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” within the United States and its US territories. Many Americans relate this era with speakeasy, public law breaking, and a public disregard for the establishment of prohibition. The 18th Amendment was the first constitutional amendment that sought to limit the rights of citizens and their rights to drink. This would become an attempt that many would soon come to realize as one of the greatest failures in law enforcement in American History. For if an American wants to drink, those with the American spirit for rebellion will surly offer him one.

January 29, 1920 the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes,” was put into effect until 1933 (history.com). Making alcohol totally illegal was an attempt to enforce sobriety. World War I also aided in the prohibition because food was very scarce. The Lever Act of 1917 outlawed the use of grain to manufacture alcohol (Carnes and Garraty 644). Arrests for public intoxication went down drastically, as well as deaths due to alcoholism. Although, more lives were saved many people violated the law in order to consume alcohol. Smuggling alcohol became a huge business. Wine was still legal for religious purposes, but Carnes and Garraty explain that the consumption of sacramental

In the 1920’s time frame liquor was a source of freedom for all of the people. Organizations that were Anti-Saloon would argue that liquor was a big source of violence of illness for the people or community. The organization believed that if alcohol was prohibited then there would be a big decline in crimes, illnesses, and more than anything that people would respect themselves more. The Eighteenth amendment was then created and alcohol was no longer able to be sold, distributed, nor created in America. Due to this amendment being created men and women soon began to sneak in alcohol into parlors and drink illegally.

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.

In the article “Prohibition” it reveals that the 18th Amendment outlawed the making of, transporting and selling of alcohol in the United States, which was difficult to administer. This law was meant to help improve things such as crime, but it instead brought the opposite. With the increase of violence, crime, and bootlegging, Prohibition ended in 1933 with the 21st Amendment added.

On January 17, 1920, the 18th Amendment to the constitution of the United States of America took effect. The 18th Amendment had been ratified a year earlier, banning “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors”(Okrent, 1) within the United States and its territories. This new decade is called the Prohibition. The prohibition is the era of bizarre and engaging images of speakeasies, intoxicated flappers dancing the Charleston, bootleggers, and mobsters protecting illegal trades. Daniel Okrent seeks to explain the build up to the era, passage of the 18th Amendment, the public 's activities in the age of Prohibition, the ultimate repeal of the law by the 21st Amendment, and the final outcomes.

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.

Prohibition was added to the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920. Prohibition wouldn't let the people of the United States make liquor by banning of the manufacture, and sales of alcohol. Once Prohibition was put into affect, crime rate went down and so did abuse. The immediate impact of Prohibition was that no one could drink anymore. Prohibition was the act of forbidding something especially by law. In the late 1920s the 18th amendment was started with the Prohibition started in the late 1920 and lasted 13 years until early 1933. Prohibition was impeached after a long process and the 21st Amendment impeached it.

“Prohibition did not achieve its goals. Instead, it added to the problems it was intended to solve.” On 16th January 1920, one of the most common personal habits and customs of American society came to a halt. The eighteenth amendment was implemented, making all importing, exporting, transporting, selling and manufacturing of intoxicating liquors absolutely prohibited. This law was created in the hope of achieving the reduction of alcohol consumption, which in turn would reduce: crime, poverty,

On January 16, 1920 the United States went dry. The 18th Amendment was fully in effect and the country would test this “Noble Experiment” for the next thirteen years until its repeal in 1933. It is the only amendment to ever be repealed partly for all the havoc it created. During the 1930’s Prohibition had caused an increase of crime, higher consumption of alcohol and weakened the economy.

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.

People for prohibition would state that if drinking is banned, then Americans would simply drink less. However the prohibitionists were right only for a short amount of time, there was an impressive enlargement in less than a year. Since producing and shipping in alcohol was illegal, the booze lovers needed to discover ways to steer clear of being caught (“A Nation of scofflaws”). When the price of beer went up, due to it having to be moved in large sums, thereby its popularity dwindled. Nonetheless, hard liquor was more intoxicating and it was very simple to bootleg little amounts, and thus it popularity soared. An additional problem generated by prohibition was unlawful products had zero quality. In nineteen-twenty there were one-thousand