Explain How The Prohibition Corrupted Society In The 1920s

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By the end of the 1920s, American society had changed beyond recognition in comparison with how it was before World War One. America had grown richer and was the country that everyone looked up to and wanted to live in. Before the war people were saving their money, but after the war, society started spending money as they earned it, and with credit, before they earned it. What changed America so much was the prohibition of 1920 which corrupted society a lot. During prohibition, the manufacture, transportation, export, import, and sale of alcoholic beverages were illegal. The prohibition was a failure for temperance societies, churches, and fanatic evangelists who authored the legislation. Prohibition corrupted society during the 1920s because it was a bad example towards families, it increased the amount of alcoholic beverages that were consumed, and it increased the rate of homicide.
First, Prohibition was originally created to help America but instead it made its society corrupt as shown …show more content…

Prohibition was supposed to lower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, lower taxes needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. Prohibition did the exact opposite concerning crimes. As shown in document 6, the rate on homicides in 1920 (when the prohibition occurred) was approximately, 675,000 and in 1933 it was approximately, 980,000. As stated before, prohibition was supposed to help decrease the rate for crimes. Prohibition also presented lucrative opportunities for organized crime to take over the importing, manufacturing, and distributing of alcoholic drinks. For example, Al Capone, one of the most infamous bootleggers, was able to build his criminal empire on profit he made from selling illegal alcohol. It can be concluded that the Prohibition of 1920 corrupted the society because it increased the homicide rate largely as proven in document

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