Prohibition Argumentative Essay

Prohibition. It began in 1918 partly due to World War I and was repealed by most provinces by the early 1920’s, during those few years it caused a number of problems here in Canada but especially in the United States. Prohibition is the legal prevention of the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages. In simpler words, it prohibited people from taking part in the alcoholic beverage business, hence the name, prohibition. Prohibition was introduced in 1918 because of multiple reasons. The first reason being the first World War. Since during World War I the soldiers overseas needed food, Canadians needed to ration. This meant that we also had to ration items such as grain and fruits which are required to create liquor. This lead to the government
These groups were trying to prohibit alcohol since the early 1860’s. During and a little before WWI the Women’s Suffrage Movement was fighting for women’s right to vote and in 1916 and 1917 they gained the right to vote provincially in most provinces. Prohibition was passed in most provinces after women had gained the right to vote. Now for a big question. Did prohibition actually work? Not really. As said by Will Rogers an American media star, “Why don't they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.” He, along with many others, believed that prohibition was an atrocious idea from the beginning. Prohibition was mainly a failure because of the fact that if there is a demand there will be a supplier. In this case there were gangsters like Al Capone smuggling alcohol to supply the demand. Another reason was because prohibition lead to reduced tax revenue for the government and an increase in government