Prohibition Essays

Essay on The Introduction of Prohibition
The Introduction of Prohibition
Prohibition was introduced in 1920 as part of an amendment to the Constitution of the USA. It was
introduced for a variety of different reasons including a wartime concern for preserving grain for
food rather than for brewing and distilling. There were also feelings against the German–Americans,
who were responsible for brewing and distilling, at a time when America was at war against
Germany which also let the Anti–Saloon league influence the general public before the main
objectors, the men, returned home. Even though there are many reasons for the introduction of
prohibition there was only one main consequence. It created the greatest criminal boom in American
...show more content...
They said that buying alcohol would benefit the Germans and you would be being disloyal to your
country to purchase something that would benefit the 'enemy'. Nevertheless, this would not stop the
large population of German–Americans buying the alcohol along with many other Americans who
had come to America from other countries. An additional consideration that led people in the
belief that prohibition would succeed was the cost of alcohol so people may have used the law as
an opportunity to give up alcohol without seeming odd to others. Moreover, this problem would
not prevent wealthy Americans from trying to purchase alcohol because they had the money to do
it without sending their family into the downwards spiral of poverty. Also, to begin with the level
of enforcement for the law was so high that even if people did not support the law, the prohibition
commissioners could have worked hard to dispose of alcohol whilst gathering support. However,
this hard work soon ended when the commissioners, along with the police, politicians, magistrates,
party officials and clerks, began to accept bribes from gangsters and the owners of speakeasies to
ignore the activities that were taking place around them. Even though there are many reasons that
say that prohibition could have succeeded there are always more
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Prohibition Essay
Prohibition
Throughout history, the need and presence of governing forces have always existed. Governments,
by the use of legislation, make choices in the best interest of the people. The Nineteenth Century was
popular for the great amounts of alcohol that the average person consumed. Such popularity spawned
and entire social movement against alcohol. This movement was called the Noble Experiment.
Although it failed to directly ban alcohol, the movement contributed by electing many reformers
who would change the face of America in the early Twentieth Century. In 1920, the Eighteenth
Amendment of the Constitution prohibited the use and sale of alcohol in the United States.
Although it was created with good...show more content...
In spite of a few lavish farewell parties, one would think it was just another night of the year.
Thomas Carnegie described the event in the New York Times; "...the spontaneous orgies of drink
that were predicted failed in large part to occur on schedule.... Instead of passing from us in violent
paroxysms, the rum demon lay down to a painless, peaceful, though lamented by some, death."
On January 17, 1920, as written in the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibition became apart of the
Constitution and America went dry. The Eighteenth Amendment, though written by Wayne Wheeler,
was given the nickname of the Volstead Act because Andrew Volstead introduced it to Congress
(Coffey 45). The Senate passed the Act on August 1, 1917; the House of Representatives passed it
on December 18 of the same year (Lucas 55–56). Once passed in both houses of Congress, President
Wilson vetoed the Amendment. Congress overturned the president's veto on the same day, but one
more obstacle remained. The Supreme Court voted on prohibition soon after. By one vote it was
regarded as constitutional (Behr 77–79). Next, it needed to be ratified by thirty–six states.
Mississippi leads the states by being the first to ratify in 1918, and Nebraska followed the next year
as the thirty–sixth state to ratify (Lucas 55–56). The details of prohibition were explained in the
Eighteenth Amendment. Most importantly, the

Prohibition Essay
Prohibition
Prohibition, "The Noble Experiment," was a great and genius idea on paper, but did not go as
planned. With illegal activities still increasing and bootlegging at its all time high, it was no
wonder the idea crumbled. Could they have revised the law to make it more effective? If so, would
the law be in place today, and how would that have changed our lives today? Although it was brief,
Prohibition will remain a huge part of America's history. Completely illegalizing the production and
consumption of alcohol was a great plan that ended up being a great failure.
Prohibition, under the Eighteenth Amendment was the Governments idea of illegalizing the
consumption, production, and transportation of intoxicating liquors....show more content...
Prohibition was supposed to lower crime and the consumption of intoxicating liquor, but instead did
the exact opposite.
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For
nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws
which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is
closely connected with this," Albert Einstein. (Internet, quotes on Prohibition, page 1)
Prohibition not only failed to prevent the consumption of intoxicating liquor, but also led to
extensive production of unregulated, untaxed and very harmful alcohol. With more violence,
political corruption and the creation of organized crime, the amendment was finally overturned when
Utah, the thirty–sixth state needed to ratify the 21st amendment came forward and agreed on
December 5, 1933. Amazingly, many people today still believe Prohibition was a success. With so
much corruption and depravity, failure seemed inevitable, but how would history and the present
have differed if the law were never amended?
Nationally, over 534,000 people sustain injuries from alcohol related collisions a year, which adds
up to be about one a minute. Around 16,000 die

Prohibition Essay
Prohibition
The 18th amendment, known as prohibition, had America in fits when it was ratified in 1919. The
government was hoping to achieve a healthier, efficient society with good morals and a break for
women from receiving beatings from drunken husbands. Although the motives behind prohibition
were reasonable, it was so corrupted from the beginning that it never could have successfully been
carried out. America became a lawless period, and many Americans felt that if they could get away
with ignoring one law, then they did not have to follow any others (Axelrod 239). However, it may
have been necessary for the progression of America for it accomplished a great many other feats
other than sobering up citizens. Women fought actively for...show more content...
However, it was not only Americans who were feeling the sting of prohibition. Foreigners, especially
Germans, were angry at the movement, feeling that they were being discriminated against for how
they lived (Kyvig).
Alcohol was, at first, relief from stress for men, but soon became a part of society as a whole.
Alcohol was a big factor in determining your social status and offered many men and women legal
jobs to support themselves and their families. It was cheaper than other drinks, such as coffee or
tea, and it was safer to drink than unpasteurized milk or impure water, so it was the ideal drink,
some elderly citizens needed alcohol for medical reasons (Kyvig). Nevertheless, this did not stop the
ratification of the 18th amendment.
When government embraced prohibition, what was taken for granted became lost. Women being
submissive towards men, men holding down a secure job, and the economic boom of the Roaring
Twenties all came to pass when alcohol was prohibited. Although considered by some an advantage,
others saw how women used their newfound freedom as offensive. Flappers an alcohol became and
almost indistinguishable couple. Although it gave women a chance to show their knowledge and
class, temperance was thrown out the window (Lerner 176). As well as women breaking free, jobs
were being broken off, throwing men and women into

Prohibition Essay
Prohibition
The success of the prohibition movement can be seen from many different views. It was measured
by the prohibitionists many motives, their social make–up, their creative reasons they came up with
to promote their cause, and the positive outcomes they imagined possible by prohibiting alcohol
consumption.
The prohibitionists had several motives for letting loose their concern of alcohol. The main issue
discussed, using the example of the average middle–class citizen, was the aspect of growing children
and the effect of alcohol on the family. Facts show that children with parents that have major
drinking problems are more "defective" than children with parents that...show more content...
I). By doing this, you have the worshipers on your side. This was quite effective, given the ratio of
religious people to non–religious people during this time period. Through time, the prohibition
movement gained more followers from a wider variety of backgrounds. With their ways of luring the
different types of people in, they gain understanding from that particular group, and therefore getting
more of those on your side. This is generally how the prohibition movement gained power over time.
As previously mentioned, the prohibitionists had many creative ways of grabbing the attention of
these different people. The way they related their cause directly to progressivism wasn't too hard;
and luckily, it was easy to base it all on fact. By mentioning everything bad alcohol can do to
someone, it is easy to bring about the statement that a sober society is the best way to progress. As
mentioned in document E, prohibition was stated as "a theory of proper social life." This is a
perfect example of how these people manipulated America's majority to pass this 18th amendment.
They also related prohibition to city life, by saying that saloons interfere with industrial life and
working (doc. D). Saloons are mentioned as a bad wall separating men from work, and should be
taken out of the industrial picture.
The

Prohibition of the 1920's Essay
The 1920s was a time of major social change in the United States. The social changes during this
period were reflected in the laws and regulations that were brought into play at this time. One of the
most prominent examples of this was prohibition. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution, also
known as the Volsted Act, which got its name from its sponsor, Representative Andrew Volsted of
Minnesota, was created to eliminate the use of alcohol in the United States. In doing this, the
proponents of prohibition hoped to end the social problems associated with alcohol, such as domestic
abuse. "It was an attempt to promote Protestant middle–class culture as a means of imposing order
on a disorderly world"(Dumenil, 1995). However, this goal of...show more content...
Another reason that the decline in alcohol sale and usage was not permanent was its increased
profitability. After the implementation of prohibition, the price of alcohol went up dramatically.
During prohibition, the price of beer went up 600%, and the price of gin went up 520%. (Kyvig,
1979). This made the sale of illegal spirits more profitable to bootleggers. The alcohol trade was a
lucrative practice. Bootleggers smuggled alcohol into the country and sold it at tremendous profits.
Therefore, because alcohol was more profitable to sell during prohibition, it was more widely
consumed. The levels of consumption never reached those of pre–prohibition times, but alcohol use
in the United States was not totally eliminated. "National prohibition substantially reduced, but did
not altogether eliminate, the use of alcoholic beverages"(Kyvig, 1979). 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

Prohibition Essay
On midnight of January 16, 1920, American went dry. One of the personal habits and everyday
practices of most Americans suddenly diminished. The Eighteenth Amendment was passed, and all
importing, exporting, transporting, selling, and manufacturing of intoxicating liquor was put to an
end. The Congress passed the Amendment on January 16,1919, but it only went into effect a year
later. The Volstead Act was passed with the Eighteenth Amendment on October 23, 1919. The Act
was named after Andrew Volstead, a Republican representative from Minnesota. The Volstead Act,
also known as the "National Prohibition Act", determined intoxicating liquor as anything having an
alcoholic content of more than 0.5 percent, excluding alcohol used for medicinal...show more
content...
That would be true if someone is examining only minor crimes, such as swearing, mischief, and
vagrancy, which also did decrease due to prohibition. The major crimes, such as homicides, and
burglaries, increased 24 percent between 1920 and 1921. Also, the number of federal convicts over
the course of the prohibition period increased 561 percent. The crime rate increased because
"prohibition destroyed legal jobs, created black–market violence, diverted resources from
enforcement of other laws, and increased prices people had to pay for prohibited goods" (Thorton,
10). The contributing factor to the sudden increase of felonies was the organization of crime,
especially in large cities. Because liquor was no longer legally available, the public turned to
gangsters who readily took on the bootlegging industry and supplied them with liquor. Most
speak–easies were owned by bootlegging mobsters. On account of the industry being so profitable,
more gangsters became involved in the money–making business. Crime became so organized
because "criminal groups organize around the steady source of income provided by laws against
victimless crimes such as consuming alcohol" (Thorton, 13). As a result of the money involved in
the bootlegging industry, there was much rival between gangs. The profit motive caused over four
hundred gang related murders a year in Chicago alone (Stack, 4). Prohibition actually enabled
organised crime to grow and in an effort to stay in

Essay on prohibition
Prohibition, which was also known as The Noble Experiment, lasted in America from 1920 until
1933. There are quite a few results of this experiment: innocent people suffered; organized crime
grew into an empire; the police, courts, and politicians became increasingly corrupt; disrespect for
the law grew; and the per capita consumption of the prohibited substance–alcohol–increased
dramatically, year by year. These results increased each of the thirteen years of this Noble
Experiment, and they never returned to the levels that existed before 1920. Prohibition did not
happen instantly, it settled on the country gradually, community by community, town by town, and
eventually state by state for almost a century. The onset of National...show more content...
By the 1890's prohibitionists were also prominent in the school boards. Anti–alcohol material was
found even in the school houses. In some parts of the country young children were asked to
memorize this pledge. "I promise not to buy, sell, or give alcoholic liquors while I live; from all
tobacco I'll abstain and never take God's name in vain." (Fisher 241) Evangelist Billy Sunday also
claimed that "hell will forever be for rent," as a cause of alcohol and looked forward to living a
country "so dry, she can't spit." A group known as the Anti
–Saloon League claimed "Now for an era
of clear thinking and clean living." (Cherrington, 207) Also as the result of Prohibition a Long Island
church leaflet declared "An enemy has been overthrown and victory crowns the forces of
righteousness."
There were ways that people who wanted a drink could get one in dry states. As there almost
always is there were loopholes. The primary loophole was this: since interstate commerce was
regulated by the federal government and not by the individual states, a person could order liquor by
mail. As state after state across the country became dry, the parcel post wagon jingled, jangled,
clinked, and sloshed from house to house. This infuriated the people that remained dry and as a
result in 1913, the Interstate Liquor Act, prohibiting

Prohibition Essay
English III Honors P. 1
Mrs. Robinson
4 May 2004
"Prohibition: The Noble Experiment"
"Prohibition, sometimes referred to as the noble experiment, did not achieve its goals. It did the
exact opposite by adding to the problems that it was intended to solve" (Thorton). It is also
considered to be the thirteen years that damaged America. On January 16, 1920 one of the most
disobeyed laws was put into effect. The 18th amendment, also known as Prohibition, was ineffective
and caused more corruption in...show more content...
This law set up the guide lines for Prohibition. It stated that: "...no person shall on or after midnight
January 16, 1920, when the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States went into
effect, manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any
intoxicating liquor except as authorized in this Act" (Bowen 154). It also said that beverages over
0.5% alcohol by volume were banned (except alcohol used for medicinal and sacramental purposes).
Besides getting alcohol through prescription people had many ways of obtaining it. One way was
to going down to any of the thousands of speakeasies around the country. Speakeasies were
formed in the 1920's as a means to get around the everyday hassle of law enforcement watching
for people to violate the 18th Amendment. For every legitimate saloon that closed as a result of
the new law, half a dozen speakeasies were established (Behr 164). These speakeasies were one of
the many ways that people during the 1920's and early 1930's obtained illegal alcohol. By 1925
there were thought to be 100,000 speakeasies in New York City alone. Patrons often said you could
get a glass of liquor at any building on 52nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in New York
City. "...if you knew where the speakeasies were and if you had the password to get in.

Prohibition Essay examples
Prohibition, A Complete Failure
Prohibition had become an issue long before its eventual induction as the 18th amendment in 1920.
Organizations came about for the sole purpose of an alcohol free America. In 1833, an estimated
one million Americans belonged to some type of temperance association (Behr 12). Many believed
the absence of alcohol would help the poor as well as big business. Lower class people would put
more money into savings accounts and productivity would increase among workers (Hanson 27).
More importantly the "noble experiment"–was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve
social problems, and improve the health and hygiene in America" (Thorton 1).
Although gangsters of the 1920's...show more content...
Racketeers and gangsters competed for business, spawning a wave of violence across the nation"
(Hanson 35). No place was more evident of this than Chicago.
" The evil genius of all gangsterdom was Al Capone, first haled to Chicago at 23 by Johnny Torrio,
who was at the time boss of the Windy City's underworld" (Edey 175). By the time Capone took
control in 1925 he controlled all the speakeasies in Chicago, which were estimated to be at 10,000,
and had a gang 700 strong to enforce his reign (Edey 175). During Capone's reign "Chicago suffered
upwards of 400 gang murders a year" (Edey 175).
For the most part main stream America accepted gangsters. It was a necessary evil to get the
alcohol they craved (Bergreen 231). Until that is, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929. "
Crime in Chicago has been so psychologically successful, that it takes such a romantically
excessive episode as the recent St. Valentine's Day Massacre to stir the citizens at all "(Bergreen
319). Seven of Bugs Moran's (a chief rival of Capone) men were slaughtered in warehouse on Clark
Street in Chicago. The five killers, two dressed as policemen, made a clean get away (Heimel 48,
49). What especially galled officials was "the spectacle of a squad of hit men masquerading as
police..." (Bergreen 314).
As a mark of the violence created by gangsters during prohibition, consider the homicide rate, which
increased from less than 7 per 100,000 in1920

The Failure of Prohibition Essay
The Failure of Prohibition There are many contributing factors to why prohibition was introduced on
16 January 1920. The two factors that I have chosen to answer the question, how did they contribute
to prohibition being passed as a law, are the Anti–Saloon League (ASL) and the Women's Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU). These both campaigned to try and get prohibition passed as a
lawThe Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was formed in 1875 and was led by
Frances Willard, but the movement of women to try and get prohibition passed as a law had started
before this. It was Elizabeth Thompson who sat with friends outside the saloons of Kansas praying
for the saloons to be closed down. This...show more content...
They also said that women were the victims of drunken behaviour. It was often the case that women
would be the subjects of beatings and violent behaviours towards their children. The WCTU also
made the point that the women were being neglected because of the saloons. Their point was that the
men would spend all of their hard–earned money in the saloons before they got home. These facts
where told to the politicians by means of letters sent to them and rallies. The politicians now had
to take notice of them and they couldn't ignore the fact that prohibition was a popular law to be
passed.
======================================================================
The WCTU also used the dangers of alcohol as another tactic to try and get the saloons closed down.
They claimed that alcohol was damaging to health and said that by the men going to the saloons it
was a risk for them, which in turn put stress on his family. The diseases that the WCTU blamed the
alcohol for were gout, plasy, dropsy and epilepsy, but due to recent research it is now known that
alcohol dose not cause these diseases but aggravates them. Another way that the WCTU contributed
to the introduction of prohibition was to tell the people of America that their cultures were under
threat. With the introduction of around 25 million immigrants, the WCTU said that prohibition
would stop new

Prohibition Era Research Paper
Pictured above: [Interior of a crowded bar moments before midnight, June 30, 1919, when wartime
prohibition went into effect New York City]/Digital ID: (b&w film copy neg.) cph 3c23253 http:/
/hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c23253/Reproduction Number: LC–USZ62–123253 (b&w film copy
neg.)/Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540
USA CULTUREIFY As law enforcement began to close down saloons throughout the country,
following the establishment of the 18th Amendment, speakeasies came to the forefront... A
speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, was an illicit establishment that sold alcoholic
beverages during the Prohibition era (generally, between 1920 to 1933). It was during those years,
that the...show more content...
To point out the difficulties of the Prohibition, an article appearing on the National Archives
website read: 'Enforcing Prohibition proved to be extremely difficult. The illegal production and
distribution of liquor, or bootlegging, became rampant, and the national government did not have
the means or desire to try to enforce every border, lake, river, and speakeasy in America. In fact, by
1925 in New York City alone there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs. The
demand for alcohol was outweighing (and out–winning) the demand for sobriety. People found
clever ways to evade Prohibition agents. They carried hip flasks, hollowed canes, false books, and
the like.' flappernflask All told...the aptly named 'Noble Experiment' was a huge failure. During
prohibition, people drank more than ever before, and more deaths occurred related to alcohol. No
other law in America has been broken so often in so many ways by so many law abiding folks.
Overnight the law made almost everyone in the country a criminal in their quest for

Essay The Prohibition of the 1920s
During the 1920's there was an experiment in the U.S. "The Prohibition", this experiment, made by
the government, was written as the 18th amendment. The prohibition led to the bootlegging,
increase in crimes, and gang wars. The experiment consisted in all importing, exporting, transporting,
and selling liquor was put to an end. Prohibition had been tried from a lot of time as temperance
movements, the movements that tried to stop the alcohol consumption started in the latest 1700's.
The first group that wanted temperance was made by a group of Litchfield, Connecticut in 1789.
Evangelical Protestants mainly formed these groups; however, they wanted moderation for
preventing drunkenness. The ones who were most affected by...show more content...
There where numerous of places that had secret places to hide alcohol during this time. By 1925
there were at least 3200 speakeasies and stores who sold liquor in order to get some extra income
in New York. The smuggling of alcohol was a very good business that involved money. Some of
the direct distilling and home brewing were secretly installed in garages, tenements, and
warehouses. With the fear of being hijacked, the bootleggers hired gunmen to protect the goods;
so illegal gun market was a side effect of the Prohibition that brought big amounts of money. The
illegal alcohol and gun market brought gangs to everywhere, these gangs fought constantly to
maintain the territory and respect. Chicago and New York where the cities where the Mafia gain
more power, gang wars and assassination became an everyday thing. On May 11th, Jim
Colosimo was the first of the Chicago mafia bosses to be assassinated. The gang wars began with
the simple plan made by the gang bosses. When John Torrio took out their leader "Big Jim", he
took over the biggest gang in Chicago. John Torrio was the one who saw that this prohibition could
be a good opportunity for making money, so he started the bootlegging. John and other gang bosses
made a deal to split the City so that everybody had their own place to sell liquor in a territory.
However, when

Prohibition In The 1920s
During 1920 in the United States, there are Prohibition of Alcohol. The Prohibition stop alcohols
from being manufactured, transported, import, export, and selling alcoholic beverages will be
illegal or restricted. This Prohibition was created so it can lower crime rate and corruption, reduce
social problem, lower the taxes needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and to improve health
and hygiene in America, but during the prohibition crime rate gone higher, and prisons were
overloaded. Most of this happen, because illegal and legal home brewing was popular during the
prohibition, but some commercial was still produced and can only be obtain from government
warehouses for the use of religious practices.

Prohibition Essay
Prohibition The years leading into the 1920's and the prohibition movement were marked with
saloons, drunkenness, and a society of increasing alcohol consumption. America's changing social
habits brought on the passage of the Eighteenth amendment in 1919, placing a nation–wide ban on
intoxicating liquors. This amendment was to prevent the production, sale, and use of alcoholic
beverages. As the new law was established, the problem of enforcing Americans to obey the law was
a great task as bootleggers illegally continued to traffic alcohol. Throughout the temperance
movement, numerous leaders came forth on both sides of the war against and for prohibition. The
fight for prohibition and the reasoning behind it was not worth the...show more content...
For example, they saw John D. Rockefeller "as the representative of the greatest evil in public in
life" (Blocker 18) for his actions and attitude after earning his riches in the oil business. Therefore,
big business wealth that was made without morals led prohibitionists to enforce self–control
(Blocker18). Some prohibitionists believed that it was morally bad to be intoxicated and
drunkenness had a negative effect on the life and health of Americans (Johnsen 70). One very
influential prohibitionist was Eliot Ness, who was the leader of the "Untouchables" and helped to
undermine Al Capone's bootlegging scams in Chicago. Eliot Ness and his group of law enforcers
believed in prohibition and sought to take down anyone who violated the law of the nation. As the
United States was entering into World War I, prohibitionists felt the need to "sacrifice individual
pleasure for the defense and improvement of society" (Kyvig 10). America needed to conserve
resources, such as, grain for the war effort. The answer to this was temperance. Prohibitionists fought
for an alcohol–free nation, but in the end alcohol remained an American beverage. As the new
amendment came into effect, the liquor did not disappear, but still trickled in and out of saloons and
cities. Gangsters rose to power almost overnight as their attention turned to the profitable business of
bootlegging (Internet site on Al

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