Why Is Prohibition Important In The 1920s

Proponents of prohibition are quick to argue how crime technically decreased in its fourteen years before being repealed. While this is true for minor crimes of the times like mischief and vagrancy, organized crime saw a sharp increase once the Eighteenth Amendment outlawed alcoholic substances. While the Volstead Act was passed to enforce the amendment, and had an immediate amount of success, it was also attributed to an increase in the homicide rate to 10 per 100,000 population during the 1920s, a 78 percent increase over the pre-Prohibition period rate of 5.8 per 100,000.

The 18th amendment stated that the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors was prohibited. Prohibition was a nationwide ban on all alcohol. The 18th amendment had three main goals. One goal was that they wanted to eliminate drunkenness due to it resulting in abuse of family members. Another goal was to shut down saloons because they attracted prostitutes and housed lots of gambling. The last main goal of the 18th amendment was to prevent on the job accidents and absenteeism. Were they successful?

The Prohibition Era was a period of time when the entire nation was expected to be alcohol-free, or “dry”. In January 1919, prohibitionists achieved the ratification of the eighteenth amendment to the constitution, “forbidding the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors.” The activists in the Temperance Movement had lobbied and pushed for this ratification for decades. Temperance activists consisted of women, church members, and employers. The main concern was centered around the idea that liquor made alcoholics and irresponsible people. The widespread support for the liquor ban was reflected in its approval by more

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

"The drinking of alcoholic beverages became an act of rebellion against authority from the beginning of Prohibition, especially among university students and flappers." Alcohol consumption did increase over Prohibition years, "$40 million of liquor had been smuggled into the United States in 1924" alone and that did not include the amount of alcohol which people made illegally in their own homes, which was most likely consumed that same year as well. There was a decrease in the consumption of beer, because it had to be transported in large quantities, which made the substance difficult to hide, as a result prices of beer and other alcoholic substances which had to be transported in such large quantities skyrocketed. Once this had happened people began to turn to the more concentrated forms of alcohol or "hard liquors", which were a lot easier to transport and as a consequence they were cheaper. Due to the increase in consumption of more concentrated forms of alcohol, people got drunk much faster than in pre - prohibition years. Consequently there were more alcohol related deaths during the Prohibition, due to a rise in alcohol consumption, as people were being poisoned by alcohol that was highly concentrated and or poisoned. "Deaths from poisoned liquor rose from 1,064 in 1920 to 4,154 in 1925."

The 18th amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, which banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol. This time has come to be known as the prohibition. It all started because of the effects alcohol was showing on American families. “Teachers had complained of children coming to school under the influence of drink” (Blumenthal, 84). Men were wasting away their money on alcohol and gambling, kids were being neglected, there was abuse, drunk driving, people not shown up to work due to drunkenness, and so much more all came from the consumption of alcohol. It was seen as a menace to the American Family (KCTS9, 2). Americans were getting fed up with the direction society was heading and decided to take action. Groups were formed

People were jailed regularly, moonshiners struggled to find new ways to provide a normal life for their families, and crime syndicates were at an all time high with the rising profits from bootlegging. Police officers turned into criminals, law abiding citizens reputations were tarnished because they drink illegally. Tho throughout all this misery there still stood completely elated those who felt like the prohibition of alcoholic beverages was in the best interest of the whole America. Wayne Wheeler felt extremely accomplished and proud to know that his feelings towards drinking were felt by the people in charge who took a stand against alcoholism. Basically there was a wide spectrum on the affects that occurred during the period of prohibition those being good or bad. You’ll be excited to learn that eventually due to the causes and affects of the 18th Amendment it was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment, also the 18th Amendment to this day remains the only Amendment in the over 200 years of the Constitution to ever be

One of the reasons why prohibition failed during the 1920’s in the U.S. was due to Americans wanted to drink alcohol anyways and break the law. Secondly, law enforces were corrupted due to being underpaid thus being easily bribed by organized crimes. Even politicians would vote against it, but would still drink in private. Thirdly, government agencies had very few people prohibition agents that were underpaid and also were easily bribed. Fourthly, government wasn’t really ready to enforce any type of laws like prohibition they were still weak. A lot of public officials did not support prohibition. Fifth, the rise of speakeasies, organized crime, gun fights, bootlegging, illegal consumption of alcohol, corruption, and rise of gangsters such

Plus bootleg alcoholic beverages like beer and whisky were created, the whole drinking scene was slowly starting to look like its former self. The most confusing statistic is that before prohibition there were less speakeasies then there were during prohibition. So therefore the introduction of prohibition had actually increased America's alcohol intake rate. When Prohibition started it opened up an opportunity for local gangsters to make some money and then expand their business and many of them took this opportunity. Probably the most famous of all the gangsters was called Al Capone.

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.

Prohibition was added to the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920. Prohibition wouldn't let the people of the United States make liquor by banning of the manufacture, and sales of alcohol. Once Prohibition was put into affect, crime rate went down and so did abuse. The immediate impact of Prohibition was that no one could drink anymore. Prohibition was the act of forbidding something especially by law. In the late 1920s the 18th amendment was started with the Prohibition started in the late 1920 and lasted 13 years until early 1933. Prohibition was impeached after a long process and the 21st Amendment impeached it.

The noble experiment of Prohibition, a ban on the sale, transportation and manufacture of alcohol. It was introduced because of the growing troubles in America and many people believed that alcohol was the cause for all of people’s sins. Drinkers were accused of being unpatriotic because Beer was associated with Germany and obviously after the First World War Germany were the enemy. Alcohol also made workers less productive and reliable which had a significant impact on society in America. However, how significant was the impact of prohibition on US society between 1920 and 1933?

One example that can prove this point would be the Prohibition act in the 1920’s. This act itself was to stop the selling of alcohol. The United States Government at this time believed that the cause of family destruction was because of alcohol. The men would be drunk after coming home from work and act violently, as some wives claimed, and it cause to them to be abused by the husband because of alcohol. Because of these claims, the government put a ban to alcohol, which was the eighteen amendment added to the U.S. Constitution at that time. The people supporting this movement believed that this would cause the abuse to stop. However the intended consequence did not occur. What did happen was that crime in the United Stated heavily increased.

The temperance movement and Christian leaders thought that by outlawing alcohol it would reduce crime and intoxication during Prohibition, however, crime rates increased and the legal system became overburdened. I will explain some key events that led up to Prohibition and notorious syndicates that were popular during the time and to today’s historians. Finishing off I will outline crime statistics that coincided with the dry era and show how Prohibition did or did not have an impact on these figures.

As a result of this new law, a new social problem arose. “Seldom has law been more flagrantly violated. Not only did Americans continue to manufacture, barter, and possess alcohol; they drank more of it.” Americans who supported prohibition, argued that if drinking alcohol was illegal, the public would recognize and respect the law, and in turn, would give it up. During the start of prohibition, it appeared as though it was working. But, what was really going on, was that since the transportation and production was not allowed, bootleggers had to find ways to do it without being caught. The price of beer rose, because it had to be transported in large barrels, which was more difficult. As a result, people started drinking more potent hard liquor. It took less to get drunk, therefore it was easier to transport, thus, it was cheaper. Americans would drink this potent liquor and get drunk a lot faster, for less money. As a downfall, however, the liquor had no standards. The rate of alcohol related deaths due to poisoning drastically increased from 1,064 in 1920, to 4,154 in 1925.