The Prohibition Era

The Prohibition Era of the 1920’s was an infamous time for the United States. However, despite the roar and boom or the twenties, prohibition did little to benefit Americans or the country itself. The ban of the make, transportation, and sale of alcohol only caused an increase in crime and decrease in public health and safety with practically no economic benefit.

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

Prohibition was the eighteenth amendment. It prohibited the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages. People would have never thought of "excoriating" alcohol until the 19th century (Tyrrell 16). During this time widespread crime and dismay arose. Some beneficial things did come out of this period of chaos such as women were able to prove themselves as people their temperance movements. During this time many things happened that led to Prohibition's strongest point and to its fall. Prohibition proved to be a failure from the start,. Prohibition was scarcely adhered to and also widely defied but out of this women had a chance to voice their opinions and prove themselves.

Prohibition was undertaken to reduce crime, reduce corruption, and solve social problems in America but it failed on all accounts. Prohibition had the exact opposite effect on people than its original purpose was. Instead of removing alcohol from society, Prohibition actually instigated a national drinking spree that held constant until Prohibition was repealed. Felix Von Luckner said, “My observations have convinced me that many fewer would drink were it not illegal” (Von Luckner, 2). He believed that the law against alcohol manufacturing just instigated more drinking. The people during this period in time were so rebellious that they would do the opposite of anything that they were told to do. This had a huge contribution to the failure of Prohibition. Due to the failure of Prohibition, America’s society had fallen spiral to a drinking spree (Batchelor, 1). Many believed that the main cause of the failure of Prohibition was the breakdown of the enforcement agencies. In Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia said, “The Prohibition Enforcement Unit has entirely broken down. It is discredited; it has become a joke…” (La Guardia, 2). The Roaring Twenties’ prosperity was lost due to the failure of the Prohibition Enforcement Unit. If the law was stronger and better enforced, Prohibition could have succeeded. This was very detrimental to society because it showed the

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 1917 was the point in history where Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment to amend the Constitution which stated that it prohibited the export, import, manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States. This law sparked rebellion in American citizens across the nation; many people thought this law violated their right to live by their own standards. The implementation of the 18th amendment created a large number of bootleggers who were able to supply the public with illegal alcohol. Many of these bootleggers became very rich and influential through selling alcohol, gambling and using other methods. The prohibition era allowed for organized crime to flourish and these practices are still used today.

Beginning in the 1830’s, temperance movements began pushing for abstinence from alcohol. The wartime Prohibition Act was passed in 1918 in order to save grain for the war effort. A year later, the 18th amendment was ratified and went into effect on the federal level. This outlaw of alcohol gave rise to an organized network of crime, including gangsters like Al Capone and speakeasies (Kelly). The Prohibition was meant to keep people away from the negative effects of drinking (Esler, Ellis

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

In the 1920s, the 18th Amendment banned a person's right to manufacture and purchase liquor. Banning the transportation, manufacture,and sale of intoxicating beverages was known as prohibition, the most fought over law of the 1920’s. Prohibition was firmly backed by the government and the women in the United States that were also being abused. Important groups of

The 1920’s was a huge, significant time for the United States. One of the most important parts of this time is the Prohibition Era. What is Prohibition? Prohibition is defined as the banning of alcohol use. On July 22nd 1919, this idea was put into action using the 18th amendment. The 18th amendment forbade the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol (Lapsanky-Werner 229). This amendment was enforced by the Volstead Act, named after Andrew Volstead. This act was not very effective, and alcohol consumption was at an all-time high. It was said that most Americans became criminals overnight because they resisted this act. The people against the prohibition were known as “Wet’s” and the supporters of the

The rise of mass disobedience to prohibition took the amendment’s supporters by surprise. Working class consumption moved from the saloon to the home, backyard stills and bathtub gin replaced the mass-produced alcoholic items that were no longer available and those who could afford to flocked to speakeasies. All of those who produced booze at home or partook of the glamour and glitz of the speakeasy were breaking the law, but doing so was considered chic and to a large percentage of Americans a perfectly acceptable thing to do. Society culture largely ignored the act while immigrant and working-class culture was unduly affected by the act. The closure of all alcohol-related businesses was a reason for a rise in unemployment. People were struggling to feed their own families and were forced to turn towards the trade of illegal alcohol. Making booze was a quick and easy method during hard times to feed your family. Turning the unemployed bar workers, restaurant workers, brewery workers, distillery workers, and the packaging and delivery people into criminals for doing what had prior been their lawful profession.

During the 1920’s, in an attempt to reduce the amount of alcohol consumption in the United States, Congress passed The Volstead Act, prohibiting the use and sale of alcohol. Quickly, unforeseen consequences made themselves very apparent. The effects of Prohibition were vast and negative, covering a wide spectrum of social ills. Between the increases in crime, an encouragement of organized crime, and the rise of alcohol use, Prohibition was deemed a disaster.

The early 1900s included a social trend building in the public view toward prohibition of alcohol that manifested itself in the form of the temperance movement.5 This movement was led greatly by the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union, who believe prohibition could solve many of the problems that had been left behind from the social causes of the progressive union.2 Many women advocated throughout the use of science that “alcohol was bad for health”, and that it “corroded family life and weakened society.”1 Industrialist also supported prohibition because they were concerned about what drinking could do to a factory’s productivity and wanted to prevent accidents from

Alcohol was consuming the country; it flowed like water into nearly every home, poorhouse, and it even trickled into the streets with the selling of booze on most busy street corners. As the consumption of alcohol grew, so did tensions in the average american home. The once-happy families were being torn apart by the “evils” of liquors. The average husband worked all day to support his family, then came home and ventured into a afternoon of binge drinking. Many of these husbands would become disgruntled and angry over small civil disputes. A powerful group of activists began to wage a war on alcohol; they made it their mission to eradicate liquor in an effort to help the country return to simpler and more godly times. The movement, known as Prohibition, may well go down as one of the biggest legislative backfires in American history.

“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,