Prohibition Era in the 1920s

1594 Words4 Pages

So convinced , that alcohol was the cause of virtually all crimes that on the eve of Prohibition some towns sold their jails. The police, courts, and prisons were overwhelmed with new cases; organized crime increased in power and corruption extended among law enforcement officials.1 The United States Prohibition in the nineteen twenties affected us greatly, for instance, the money it made, the organized crime, and Al Capone also known as the most notorious gangster in America.
The Prohibition was a nationwide ban on the sale, importation, production, and transportation of alcoholic beverages that remained in place from 1920 to 1933. Rural and democratic protestants led the dry movement that was coordinated by the ASL (Anti-Saloon League.) The Prohibition, enabling the Volstead Act, mandated under the eighteenth amendment to the United States Constitution, set down rules for enforcing ban and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. Nevertheless, private ownership and consumption of alcohol was not made illegal under federal law; on the other hand in many county’s local laws, banned possession. The introduction of alcohol prohibition was a hotly debate issue. The prohibition supporters were known as “drys,” they claimed that the prohibition was better for health, wellbeing, and public morals. The group of anti-prohibition were also known as “wets,” they criticized prohibition as intrusion of mainly rural protestant ideals on a central aspect of urban, catholic life, and immigrants.2
The eighteenth amendment was the result of decades of effort by the temperance movement in the United States and at the time was generally considered a progressive amendment. State legislatures didn’t ban consumption of alcohol...

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...angster in America. The Prohibition had a “butterfly effect” on our country. First of all, all of the money it made brought out the inner thug in some people through organized crime. Which organized crime caused people to start bootlegging, gambling, and more gang violence. Al Capone was the most famous gangster in American history and played a big role in the Prohibition era. Our country would be very different if the Prohibition never happened and we didn’t have alcohol, there would be no alcoholics and we wouldn’t have that to tax to help out our country economically.

Works Cited

1. www.history.com/topics/prohibition

2. www.vintageperiods.com/prohibition.php

3. www.albany.edu/~wm731882/organized-crime1_final.html

4. www.pbs.org-u.s.proh.

5. http://www.prohibitionrepeal.com/history/fastfacts.asp

6. http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/p/prohibition.htm

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