Prohibition and Organized Crime
Prohibition and Organized Crime
In 1919, America was torn with the decision of prohibiting liquor from being sold. There were many incentives to do so. However, political officials did not take into account that people would get what they wanted at all costs. With prohibition, America was set for an untamed drinking binge that would last thirteen years, five months, and nine days (Behr 91). Prohibition, though it was dignified, was a great failure that taught the United States valuable lessons about crime and corruption.
Many Americans wanted to do away with liquor altogether. The liquor industry had been proved a major factor in political corruption and was tied in with prostitution, gambling, and other associations (Morison 900). Congress provided for an amendment that would make the entire country prohibition territory. The amendment was as follows:
Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article, 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.
Section 2. The Congress and the several states shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the constitution by the legislatures of the several states, as provided in the Constitution by the legislatures of the several states, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the states by the congress (“Prohibition”).
Congress passed the Prohibition amendment in 1917, thirty-six states had ratified it by January 16, 1919, and it went into effect a year later. The eighteenth amendment provided no machinery for enforcement or penalties for violations, so Congress passed the Volstead Act in 1919, over President
In 1919, America was torn with the decision of prohibiting liquor from being sold. There were many incentives to do so. However, political officials did not take into account that people would get what they wanted at all costs. With prohibition, America was set for an untamed drinking binge that would last thirteen years, five months, and nine days (Behr 91). Prohibition, though it was dignified, was a great failure that taught the United States valuable lessons about crime and corruption.
Many Americans wanted to do away with liquor altogether. The liquor industry had been proved a major factor in political corruption and was tied in with prostitution, gambling, and other associations (Morison 900). Congress provided for an amendment that would make the entire country prohibition territory. The amendment was as follows:
Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article, 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.
Section 2. The Congress and the several states shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the constitution by the legislatures of the several states, as provided in the Constitution by the legislatures of the several states, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the states by the congress (“Prohibition”).
Congress passed the Prohibition amendment in 1917, thirty-six states had ratified it by January 16, 1919, and it went into effect a year later. The eighteenth amendment provided no machinery for enforcement or penalties for violations, so Congress passed the Volstead Act in 1919, over President
Cited: Behr, Edward. Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America. New York, Arcade Publishing, 1996 Coffey, Thomas M. The Long Thirst. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1975 Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Oxford History of the American People. New York, New American Library, 1985 Readers Digest Editors. The Story of America. New York, Random House, 1975 The World Book Encyclopedia. “Prohibition” Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Corp., 1958 Thornton, Mark. “Policy Analysis: Alcohol Prohibition was a Failure” 17 July 1991. 27 March 2003 <www.cato.org/bups/pas/pa-157.html> United States History Society, Inc. The Pictorial Encyclopedia of American History: Years 1915 to 1920. Chicago, Davco Publishing, 1962