Essay about The Damage to the United States Caused by the Prohibition

The twenties were also known as the prohibition era. In January 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment was passed prohibiting the consumption and distribution of alcohol in the United States. Federal agents were given the task of enforcing this new law. It was difficult for police to enforce the law because of the many underground establishments that were continuing to produce and sell alcohol. For every such establishment police found and shut down, several others would open in its place. With alcohol becoming harder to find in the United States, many people would smuggle it in from Canada because it was not illegal there. There was, however, a flaw in the new law. Although people on land were unable to possess alcohol, there was no law against the possession of it aboard ships that were outside of a three mile range of land. Shipping lines were taking advantage of this technicality and were selling and serving it to passengers (The Roaring

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

Smuggling alcohol was a very lucrative business for the unscrupulous. In order to ease the transportation, smugglers switched from beer and wine to hard liquor because it was more concentrated easier to hide. Since illegal liquor production was a black market, producers did not have to worry about government regulations when considering what to put into their drinks. In addition, many bootleggers were new to the game and did not know what they were doing. Many ended up accidentally producing poisonous liquor.

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

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 huge public demand for alcohol led to a soaring business for bootleggers. When prohibition began, people immediately wanted a way to drink. Hence, the extremely profitable bootlegging business was born. Before Prohibition gangs existed, but had little influence. Now, they had gained tremendous power almost overnight. Bootlegging was easy - New York City gangs paid hundreds of poor immigrants to maintain stills in their apartments. Common citizens, once law abiding, now became criminals by making their own alcohol. However, this posed risks for those who made their own. "The

The Prohibition was the time period in which the 18th amendment was in order. The 18th amendment prohibited the sale, manufacturing, and transportation on intoxicating liquors. Many people were upset with this law but very few people listened to the law. This law caused many problems including bootlegging, organized crime, smuggling, and trafficking of alcohol. With all these problems the law caused more problems than it solved.

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.

So most of the times there would be ingredients that should be in the alcohol. '' Now that alcohol was no longer subject to health inspection, various ingredients were used to make homemade liquor and brew, many of which were harmful or even fatal, nevertheless, the illeg0al alcohol market was generating millions of dollars per year (Coffey).'' Many citizens that depended on alcohol to survive, would do anything and everything in their power to get their hands on it. And they do not care what they are ingesting, they just want that free feeling that alcohol gives them. ''Above all, many Americans with a taste of liquor were determined to get hold of a drink one way or another (Sandbrook).'' Often times it would kill the person, but they did not care what it did to their body. It was also very expensive to buy from bootleggers, or on the black market. ''Almost immediately after Prohibition began, Hardware stores began selling portable stills. Distilleries in Canada and Mexico flourished as ''Rum Runners'' smuggled liquor across the borders to sell on the black market (Coffey).'' Like any law there is always going to be a black market, underground source that is making money hand over fist. In fact in this case distilleries in Canada and Mexico made some profit . Alcohol that you buy could be laced with a deadly chemical, but that is the risk you take to have just that one drink, that one drink could be your last

“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,

The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors. This ushered a period in the American history. This was known as Prohibition. Prohibition was difficult to force during the first decade of the 20th century. Bootlegging is the illegal production and sale of liquor. The increase of bootlegging, speakeasies, and the accompanying rise in gang violence and other crimes led to waning support for Prohibition. In 1933, the Congress had adopted a resolution. They proposed a 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which would repeal the 18th Amendment. The prohibition era came to a close by the end of that year.

This loophole led to the industry of illegally distributed alcohol. When the surplus supply of alcohol left over from pre-prohibition days ran out, the nation would need more. The illegal distribution of alcohol met this demand. Those who distributed alcohol became known as bootleggers or rum-runners. Considering that a large amount of the population consumed alcohol before the eighteenth amendment was passed, these bootleggers thrived. The profitability of illegally distributing alcohol allowed the crime rate to skyrocket. Infamous gangsters like Al Capone rose to power as heads of organized crime, all made possible through the funds received from bootlegging. According to an article from “History.com”, Al Capone made sixty million dollars annually from the illegal distribution of alcohol. During prohibition, the government was incapable of regulating the smuggling of alcohol because of its illegality. This combined with their lack of resources allowed crime rates to soar, and violence between rival gangs formed in the wake of prohibition became commonplace. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is an infamous example of the kind of crime that couldn't have happened without prohibition. According to the “History.com” article on the incident, the massacre took place on Valentine's Day in 1929. Seven men of a rival gang to Al Capone’s were brutally gunned down by gangsters impersonating police officers. With his rivals out of the way, Al Capone rose to power with the illegal distribution of alcohol funding him. Not every person involved in the alcohol business was a hardened criminal

The bootleggers would transport the liquor to speakeasies, the speakeasies were usually in basements in order to keep it secret. The liquor these people made were usually moonshine or bathtub gin (Prohibition). It wasn't illegal to drink alcohol but it was illegal to buy it. Some states did not enforce the prohibition laws.

The Consequences of Prohibition On the midnight of 28th October 1919, importing, exporting, transporting, selling and manufacturing of intoxicating liquor came to a halt in America. Possessing substances above the 0.5% alcohol limit was illegal. This was Prohibition. This Eighteenth Amendment was meant to have reduced the consumption level, consequently to have reduced death rates, poverty and principally crime, in the USA.

Ships carrying alcohol were able to anchor themselves right outside the three-mile limit, where they were safe from any government inference, and wait for the rumrunners to quickly take the illegal cargo to shore. The rumrunners had many duels with government gunboats known as rumchasers (Sifakis 776). The rumrunners were also called “blacks” which was short for “blackships” because they were painted dark colors so they would not be spotted very easily at night in the dark (Mills 123). The rumrunners packed the alcohol in the “sack”, which was a big burlap bag that several bottles of alcohol were closely packed in. It was packed this way so that it could float and be protected from breaking (124). At least a hundred million gallons of bootleg alcohol was annually consumed during the Prohibition period (Sifakis 111).