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

The blockade runners of the American Civil War were steam ships that traveled throughout the sea and were used to make their way through the Union blockade that extended around 3,500 miles along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and the lower Mississippi River. To get through the blockade these ships had to travel mainly at night. If they were spotted the runners would attempt to outmaneuver or outrun any Union ships on blockade patrol. The typical blockade runners were privately owned vessels often operated with a trademark issued by the Confederate States. These vessels would carry cargoes to and from neutral ports that were located in Nassau and Cuba, where neutral merchant ships carried these cargoes, usually coming from or intended to go

The origin of this source comes from an American writer, Karen Blumenthal, so she was affected or she may have known someone who was affected by Prohibition.The purpose of this book is to inform others about the numerous ways alcohol was smuggled during Prohibition. The value of this source is that she also has written about other topics in the 1920’s such as the stock market crash in 1929, so she has knowledge about the time period. The content of this book was very valuable, as it talked about the the unintended consequences of Prohibition. Prohibition wanted to ban alcohol, but instead lead to the rise of gangs in America illegally smuggling the alcohol. The value of this book is that it is written by an expert, so the information in it well credible and trusted. However, a limitation is that the writen in 2011, so it isn’t a primary source. I learned from this source that illegally smuggling alcohol, or bootlegging was

Rum Row was a prohibition term from 1920 to 1933 referring to a line of ships loaded with liquor anchored beyond the maritime limit of the United States. The maritime was 3 miles out so the ships went 3.1 miles out so the coast guard couldn’t go out and catch them. Theses lines became established near major U.S ports so that rum runners could go out and load cargoes of alcoholic beverages from these freight ships and sneak them into the port. This lucrative but dangerous business was often punctuated by murder, hijackings and other violent crimes. The cities were often in Florida at first and the product was rum from the Caribbean.

They were at least 5,700 legal stores that sell legal liquor but at the same time many stores were lessing illegal bootleg liquor. Many would do this because manufacturing it is very cheap and then selling it, resulting speakeasies that can earn big amount of

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 of this a lot of bootleggers made their own alcohol, a lot of times they make their own alcohol in bathtubs They called this bathtub gin and it was not the safest thing to make, it turned out to be responsible for blindness and even death (“Prohibition” 3). Some bootleggers were often able to make a business out of their manufacturing. There where more that 7,000 drinking parlors in Chicago. Some people like George Remus and Al Capon made over $5 million fortunes from the business of bootlegging. Someone like George Remus used armed guard, licenses, and even bribery to not get in trouble with the law On the other hand someone like Al Capone did not stop for crime or murder (Batchelor 1).

The only problem with the liquor trade was that gangsters found huge fortunes and businesses in selling the illegal liquor There were great problems enforcing the law, the prohibition bureau was set up to fight the bootleggers, yet many of the authorities in the bureau were on the payroll with the big gangs.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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 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.