Why The Prohibition Movement Failed

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The eighteenth amendment was passed by Congress in 1917 and ratified by 36 states in 1919. This amendment prohibited the manufacturing, selling, and transportation of alcohol. Prohibition was intended to reduce domestic violence in the American household, to increase the well-being of children’s everyday lives, to destroy the political corruption brought with saloons, and to destroy the German-brewing industry. The Prohibition movement passed with the support of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which was a group of dedicated women who helped to foster Prohibition by lobbying with lawmakers and businessmen. The main goal of the Temperance Movement was to get the right to vote for women, but ended up supporting Prohibition and helped to pass bills in agreement with Prohibition. Though Prohibition …show more content…

This led the government to think of another way to stop the consumption of alcohol, which was to poison key ingredients in bootlegged liquor so many stopped drinking when they realized those effects. This efficiently proved alcohol was more dangerous to consume, but did not stop gang leaders from continuing to produce it. Although supporters of the Prohibition Movement found that with graduated tax income, the government could afford to lose alcohol tax, they did not take into account the costs for the enforcement of the act. The government then passed the Volstead Act of 1919, which gave the eighteenth amendment power by defining an alcoholic beverage as one with a greater alcoholic content than 0.5 percent. Besides the Volstead Act, there was no approved way to stop the self-production of alcohol except local police, which ended up costing the government more money and led to the failure of

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