Rise And Fall Of Prohibition Essay

The Rise and Fall of Prohibiton

In the state of New York alone between 1921 and 1923 there were over 7,000 prohibition-related arrests. (1) The reasoning behind prohibition was that Prohibition if alcohol was taken out of the picture Americans would become more productive and crime rates would decrease. In the opinions of many historians this proved to be only but counterproductive. Prohibition did nothing but clearly states that Americans can cunning develop ways to produce illegal alcohol and that the state police departments did not have the man power to control it. This research paper will clearly state the reasons why the Prohibition law was developed and its rise and fall of the legislation.
At the end of World War 1, when all
the men returned home they found that many of their lives have inst(antly changed. Many men had post-traumatic stress disorders and were hard to transitioning to normal life. The now young men were also now burden with the responsibilities of taking care of their families, and maintaining an income. The stress of all this had led to the turn to alcohol, and ended up with heavy drinking and neglect of the family’s needs. The women of this time began to get fed up with the neglect and started groups called the Anti-Saloon organization. (2) With the main purpose to shut down all of the local bars and eventually led up to the passing of the Prohibition act. The three main reasons why the law was passed was the common occurrence in all men during this time were severe medical, economic, and social changes. Medical: many men were starting to develop a disease called Sclerosis which is lung cancer caused by alcohol and cigarettes, many men died from this condition and left their families with many single parents and financial problems.
(1),(2) Merideth, William A. The Great Experiment: Thirteen years of prohibition. Albany: The univeristy of Albany, 2005. Accessed September 20, 2012. http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/index.html. Economic: many men returning from the war would get jobs at local factories. The new laborers would often get drunk before their shift work and perform the job

terrible causing the company to fail at its’ product development. Social: Many men would spend every night at the local bar spending away their paychecks on alcohol and cigarettes. This essentially caused issues in the household.
In 1919 legislature the ratified the 18th amendment was passed. This enabled national prohibition within one year. The influential Women’s Christian Temperance Union is often noted as a key player for the severe quickness of this law being passed. January 16, 1920 Federal Prohibition agents a special police force were activated. The officers’ main duty was to stop the sale, distribution, and consumption of illegal alcohol.(3)
Americans at the time could just not be stopped from consuming the amazing nectar of alcohol.
A rise of speakeasies where founded, which are underground bars that profited from selling illegal alcohol. Many speakeasies where owned by local gangsters who would sell alcohol at a higher prize to take advantage of the consumer. This did increase the crime rate during the 1920’s. Many criminals would also pay off the police whenever they were caught with alcohol as an bartering tool for the turned eye. One of the famous criminals of this time was Al Capone. He would import liquor from Canada and distribute it to his gangsters. He was feared by many officers because of his harsh nature and his easy willingness to take an officers life.
(4)
(3),(4) Blocker, Jack S, Jr. “Did Prohibition Really Work? Alcohol Prohibition as a Public Health Innovation” American Journal of Public Health, no 96 (2006): 233-43. Academic Search Premier, PROQUEST(accessed September 20, 2012
Leading into the Great Depression the American economy was in shams. Presidential hopeful Roosevelt ran on his platform with the promise to repeal the prohibition act. His guarantee was to lift the act but add a slight tax to the selling of alcohol in order to help rejuvenate the economy. And in 1933 the vote for the repeal of Prohibition was 74 percent in favor. The American people rejected the Prohibition bill. The repeal act made it legal again to import, produce and sell alcohol. And it was delegated to the state to regulate the alcohol traffic. Many states did continue prohibition at the state and county levels. The last state to repeal the law was the state of Mississippi in 1966.(5)
Despite the intentions that the National Prohibition Act promised, such as a lower crime rates and a more productive American citizen.
It seem to do just the opposite with the rise of gangster owned speakeasies who would charge more than the original price of alcohol and force the consumer to spend more. To the corrupt police officials who would turn their eye for the right price, and many upbringings of illegal basement moonshine still prohibition seem to do nothing but make citizens want it more. The only good to come from the situation was the increases in the tax of alcohol once the repeal was passed. The time of the prohibition act caused serious problems that government officials were not quite ready for; but in many state counties forms of the prohibition act is still in effect to this
day. (5) Morgenthaler, Jeffrey. Repeal Day is December 5th. 2007. Accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.repealday.org/.

Bibliography
Blocker, Jack S, Jr. “Did Prohibition Really Work? Alcohol Prohibition as a Public Health Innovation” American Journal of Public Health, no 96 (2006): 233-43. Academic Search Premier, PROQUEST(accessed September 20, 2012)
Merideth, William A. The Great Experiment: Thirteen years of prohibition. Albany: The univeristy of Albany, 2005. Accessed September 20, 2012. http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/index.html.
Morgenthaler, Jeffrey. Repeal Day is December 5th. 2007. Accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.repealday.org/.