The Negative Effects Of Prohibition

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

The 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act did terminate the production of alcohol, but didn’t stop many from drinking it. Bootleggers bribed many government officials to provide alcohol to the public and to preserve their multi-million dollar business. This shows how disorganized and corrupt the government was during Prohibition. The government was supposed to support the citizens and Prohibition at that time. Instead, they turned against the people of United States and joined forces with people that provided toxic alcohol to the public. Also, bootleggers produced millions of gallons of poisonous alcohol. Drinking it can cause blindness or be poisoned. When Prohibition didn’t exist, alcohol was regulated and checked if it’s toxic before being sold to the public. Even when alcohol was forbidden, people still found a way to get their hands on liquor and sold it to the public causing devastation. During Prohibition, the government ordered industrial alcohol companies to add chemicals to alcohol, fuels, and medical supplies, discouraging people from drinking it as a warning. As a result, bootleggers got access to it, offering these low quality alcohol to the public and more than 10,000 people died from drinking it. It’s critical how the government was supposed to stop people from drinking alcohol, but it actually led people to illness or

Imagine that you’re having a gathering or party. Everything is ready to go and then you remember that the 18th amendment prohibits you from buying liquor/alcohol. The party was supposed to be a blast, but how can you have a blast without alcohol or liquor. Prohibition was the 18th amendment. It stated that it was illegal to manufacture, transport, and sell alcoholic beverages in the United States. The Volstead Act added to the 18th amendment almost 9 months after. It added that when the 18th amendment went to affect, it was against the law to barter, import, export, deliver, furnish, or posses intoxicating liquor. Of course, drinking/usage was also banned, except for authorized purposes. Then it was repealed. It was the first, and only amendment in U.S history to be revoked.

The 18th Amendment dealt with prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol. This amendment was ratified by the U.S. government and was probably one of the most futile proposals they could have ever came up with. The 18th amendment should have never been approved because it just gave Americans an alternative to break the law. Also, the government itself lost a great deal . Americans would ,in a sense, never give up alcholol, leaving the American government helpless with no other decision then to repeal the ban.

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 18th amendment made made the manufacture, sale, distribution, and consumption of alcohol illegal. This amendment was a huge failure because it causes people to go behind the laws back and drink illegally. There was a secret drinking establishment called speakeasies and there were also people who provided alcohol illegally and they were called bootleggers. The act that enforced prohibition was the volstead act.

The 1920’s of America was a time of many dramatic social and political changes. New fads arose, the economy changed, and thousands of people were transitioning from rural to urban areas. During this time, new amendments emerged, like the 18th amendment. The 18th amendment, prohibition, may have seemed like a positive thing at the time, but it caused countless problems like increased crime rates, the court system and law enforcement became corrupted, and the making of homemade alcohol increased.

Protestants, urban political progressives, those of old-world religion, and the women’s temperance unions all agreed upon one thing: the outlaw of alcohol consumption in the United States. For many years, these groups all rallied to have this outlaw take place, this outlaw would later be known as Prohibition. In 1913, crusaders gathered in Washington, they marched and demanded change. In “The War on Alcohol” Lisa McGirr states, “Antiliquor crusaders worked to educate the public about the dangers of alcohol through posters, pamphlets, graphs and charts” (19).  Progressives blamed alcohol for many other “dirty” problems such as domestic violence, gambling and prostitution. What was commonly referred to as the Volstead Act (National Prohibition Act) was sent to the states by Congress on December 18,1917, it was passed on October 28,1919, and ratified on January 16, 1919 and the country went dry one year later when the eighteenth amendment went into effect on January 20,1919. Prohibition was a ban on producing, importing, transporting and selling alcohol beverages. While the goal of the ban was to reduce alcohol consumption and clean up the country, what it really did was cause organized crime to skyrocket, detrimentally affect local and national economies and ultimately cause people to drink a more potent alcohol that was far worse for them.

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

None of us who are alive today were alive during the PROHIBITON; prohibiting the manufacturing, transportation and selling of alcoholic beverages in the United States, which was known in the Constitution as Amendment 18. The drafting of the 18th Amendment was done by the Anti-Saloon League legislative lawyer, Wayne Wheeler. It’s said to have been written to diligently fight the turn to alcoholic substances to deal with life’s problems. Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Andrew J. Volstead, Sponsored the bill before Congress. With Amendment 18th’s ratification came an effect date delay. The government took this action to compensate the liquor industries with an ample amount of time to adjust to what was set to take effect and decimate the industries for at least 10 years. It’s ratification was certified on January 16, 1919, and the Amendment didn’t go into effect until

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.

Following the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919, which outlawed the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of alcohol, the United States entered a period of time now known as Prohibition (U.S. Const. amend. XVIII). Immediately following the passage of the 18th Amendment, consumption of alcohol, alcohol related injuries, and crime decreased (Schaeffer, 2011, p. 402). However, it did not take long for the government to realize that Prohibition came with many unintended consequences. According to Schaeffer (2011), state and local governments were ill-prepared to handle the vast responsibilities of enforcing the law, which led to increased organized crime, corruption, and the failure of the law as a whole. 73% of Americans favored the repeal of the 18th Amendment “in its entirety” by the time the 21st Amendment was passed (Schaeffer, 2011, p. 408). The 21st Amendment was finally ratified in 1933 effectively ending prohibition. Aside from repealing the 18th Amendment, it also granted the states the right to regulate alcohol within their own borders and set a time limit for ratification of the law (U.S. Const. amend. XXI). Overall, this amendment decreased the powers of the federal government by delegating the authority over alcohol to the states.

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.

Imagine going to the store, or the Gas Station and not being able to buy any alcohol. That's what it was like for americans living in the prohibition era started by the 18th amendment. The 18th Amendment, also known as the Prohibition Amendment, had the roots of a good idea. Get rid of the production, distribution, and sale of most types of alcohol to boost other types of businesses. Get drunks off the streets and overall let citizens have better lives. Unfortunately the negative side affects heavily outweighed the positives in an effort to make a more sober America.

“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,