Positive And Negative Effects Of Prohibition On The United States

When the law banning the sale, production, and transportation of alcohol was put into effect in January 1920, people assumed it would have a positive effect on the United States. Once the negative results of Prohibition became apparent, support of the law declined, and the law was repealed in December 1933. There were several reasons that caused the United States to repeal Prohibition, including a rise in organized crime, difficulty enforcing the law, and the effects on the United States’ economy.
The prohibition of alcohol allowed organized crime to flourish. Because Prohibition made alcohol illegal does not mean there was no longer a demand for the product. Organized crime run by gangsters such as Al Capone had a hold on large cities were credited with the rise of
Many smugglers, who were also called bootleggers, were prepared, and knew how to get around the law without being arrested. For example, fleets of smugglers on the East Coast would anchor just outside of the three-mile limit on the Atlantic Ocean near New York and New Jersey, giving the government no authority over them. The recipients of the delivery would then sneak out to meet the fleets to collect their goods (Haskin 1923). Many government officials were known to purchase alcohol from bootleggers, so it was made difficult to punish smugglers who were caught. As Mabel Walker Williebrandt put it, “How can you have the heart to prosecute a bootlegger… when you know for a fact that the men who make the laws… are themselves patronizing the bootleggers?” (Williebrandt 1929). It is extraordinarily hypocritical to convict someone of violating the 14th Amendment when officials are known to be benefiting from these smugglers; this gives bootleggers some protection because some government workers are protecting their own