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

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.

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

The 18th Amendment was removed from the Constitution and replaced by the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933. It was added because the government was also suffering from the Great Depression at that time. By removing Prohibition, the government would get taxes from alcohol sales, jobs would be created, and it would decrease the costs of law enforcement for Prohibition. The 18th Amendment was the only amendment that was ever abolished in the U.S. Constitution. An amendment is supposed to stay in the Constitution forever and acts as a law that is protected by the federal government. When the 18th Amendment was removed, it shows that the government thinks that it wasn’t effective. Organized crime made money from selling the alcohol and increased crime throughout U.S. After years, lawmakers agreed that prohibition was not effective but also dangerous to many laws and caused many crimes concerning the safety of the citizens. Thousands were called back to work for alcohol companies. More than 5,000 new jobs are predicted as a result of repeal and many celebrated the downfall of Prohibition. After 13 years trying to stop use of alcohol among the citizens, Prohibition was not success, but rather

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.

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.

-Soon the mob and gangsters take the advantage of this new prohibition and start to smuggling and bootlegging alcohols. Alcohol are smuggled in from mainly two places Mexico and Canada, and each year Canada roughly export a million gallons of alcohol to US. Soon the mob and gangster’s little business is getting quite profitable.

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.

“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

If there’s a will there’s a way and many people found a will and a way to get alcohol during Prohibition. Many citizens found creative loopholes to still enjoy their liquors even during prohibition. During the first few months even the first year of prohibition, the alcohol that the citizens still had left was not illegal to drink or have, but when they began to run out they had to get crafty if they wanted to keep drinking. Certain types of liquor could still be acquired through a doctor’s medical prescription. “Labels boldly stated that the bottles contents were strictly for medicinal purposes and that other uses were strictly illegal.”(Scott, Robert.) So naturally, people found this as a loophole and exploited it. The amount of “patients” in America that needed this prescription before prohibition nearly doubled after the fact. If it were not for this one loophole,out of many, all of the distilleries remaining for this purpose (which were mainly the only ones left), would have closed and further crippled the already crippled liquor industry, probably to the point of no return. “Over a million gallons a year of “prescription” booze were consumed freely every year.” (Scott,

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.

Bootleg alcohol was one of the main reasons organized crimes began (Organized Crime and Prohibition 1). Bootlegging was when alcohol was brought into the country illegally from outside the borders.