Prohibition

As America flourished with their newfound independence, taverns and drinking houses became the focal point of all ethnic neighborhoods. Immigrants felt comfortable in taverns; being surrounded by a common ethnicity, foreigners were free to converse in their native tongue and keep touch with their motherland. These pubs created a safe haven for people to unwind after a long week, while also generating revenue from the tax placed on liquor itself. Throughout the 19th century, a variety of different and ineffective (at the time) movements against alcohol surfaced across America. The temperance movement was brought to the society’s attention by the American Temperance Society, the Womens Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the Anti-Saloon League, and Carrie Nation, causing nineteen states to ratify their constitutions and ban alcohol. . They used propaganda to compare the slave-trade to drunkenness, including their most popular quote: “A slave had lost control of his body, a drunkard lost control of his soul” (Rorabaugh 214). With the ratification of the 16th amendment (that created income taxes), the government no longer needed the liquor tax. This set the stage for the movement that eventually led to the ratification of the 18th Amendment, Prohibition.
Prohibition of alcohol consumption in America damaged the very economic and social aspects of American culture in many ways. Prohibition turned out to be unsuccessful, and did notreach the projected goals. Instead of solving the problems, it ended up adding on to issues. 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, death rates, and improve both the economy, and the