Was Prohibition A Success Or Failure Essay

The Failure of Prohibition What made America repeal Prohibition? Prohibition went into effect early 1920 after approval of the Eighteenth Amendment. The Eighteenth Amendment banned the transportation, manufacturing, and sale of alcohol in the United States. Americans believed that the consumption of alcohol was behind a few of America’s issues and some saw it as a drag on the economy. World War I also influenced the support of prohibition. Many Americans believed it was not American-like to spend money on alcohol where it could be used to benefit and help the nation for war purposes. A legislation to carry out the Eighteenth Amendment was needed so the Volstead Act was then made. The Volstead Act stated that no American could sell, manufacture,
Prohibition brought along and introduced more gangsters, racketeers, bootleggers, and dope sellers, (McCay). People like racketeers and gangsters made it possible to smuggle alcohol in sly ways. Between the years 1900-1953, the highest peak for homicides was during the time of Prohibition. During World War I, there was about 700,000 homicides, during Prohibition there was over 900,000, and during World War II, there was about 600,000, (US Census, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, Drug War Facts). Crime rates started to rise as soon as Prohibition was introduced, and as soon as it was repealed, the crime rates lowered. Prohibition was indeed the motive for crime rates rising and needed to be dealt
Lack of patrol was a huge factor for controlling Prohibition. “Smuggling from Mexico and Canada has been successful… because it is an utter impossibility to patrol the thousands of miles of border,” (Haskin, The American Government). Preventing people to smuggle alcohol became a challenge because the amount of enforcement was not enough to cover all areas. Smugglers could also get away with transporting alcohol because of the three mile limit near New York and New Jersey. “As long as they remain outside the 3-mile limit this Government cannot interfere… they are able to make their deliveries to bootleggers,” (Haskin, The American Government). The Government had no control over the smugglers outside of this mile limit as they were not technically breaking the law and successfully got away. Another aspect is how the Eighteenth Amendment was taken as a joke. “The men who make the laws … are themselves patronizing bootleggers,” (Willebrandt, The Inside of Prohibition). The men who created the laws for Prohibition are violating it themselves, so certainly they didn’t take it seriously. While regular Americans are being punished for violating Prohibition laws, the government was committing the same illegal things. This goes to show that Prohibition was taken as a joke and Americans still found sneaky ways to break the