Prohibition Dbq

On October 28 1919 the National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead act, was passed, starting the era of Prohibition. Many states already had prohibition in effect but it did not officially become a law until January 29 1920 making it the 18th Amendment. The prohibition era lasted from 1919 to 1933. Prohibition banned the sale, manufacturing and transporting of alcohol. This was done because many different groups of Americans were concerned about the negative effects on alcohol and thought that temperance would be the answer to America’s problems. The groups that supported prohibition thought it would improve neighborhoods, reduce crime, cleanse the corruption in politics, improve the economic status of America and improve the health of Americans .However it produced the complete opposite

effect. During prohibition the crime rate skyrocketed, America lost millions of dollars, more people were alcoholics and were dying from alcohol poisoning, people lost faith in the government and there was more conspiracy and hypocrisy in the American government than ever before. Prohibition has fulfilled very few if any of its goals and is considered a complete failure in American history. The failure of prohibition was due to the many loopholes in the law and the misconception that taking away alcohol would benefit America.
Prohibition was expected to reduce crime, improve neighborhoods, improve health and hygiene in America, and improve the economic status of America.

Industries like the theaters and soft drink companies like coca cola were supporters of prohibition because they thought that if people were spending less money on alcohol they would spend more money on their products. In turn this lead to the idea that prohibition would have an overall positive affect on economics because in general people would be spending their money on other things instead of alcohol .Prohibition was also expected to improve the military as well. No alcohol in the military would ideally mean healthier and more focused soldiers. African American politicians were also supporters of prohibition because they figured if America successfully enforced the 18th amendment it would also cause them to enforce the 14th and 15th amendment which supported civil rights thus improving the status of African Americans in Society. The working class of African Americans supported prohibition because they were promised lower crime and insurance rates and a less corrupt political system. They believed that prohibition would give black voters more power. Sadly prohibition did not fulfill any of

these expectations. Ratification of Prohibition in New York was mainly because of William Anderson who was a superintendent in the Maryland anti-saloon league. The anti-saloon league was the main organization in support of prohibition. The anti-Saloon league was founded in 1893 and gained power in the early 1900’s. The anti-saloon leagues main goal was to achieve national prohibition. New York was one of the last “wet” states until William Anderson came and made tons of new supporters for prohibition. Anderson was very skilled at what he did, before he arrived in New York he and the anti-saloon league closed down thousands of saloons in many other states. He single handedly created a huge impact on the prohibition movement and was known around the country for his incredible skill although he was hated by many people. Even though by the time Anderson made it to New York the majority of states already voted for prohibition and it would have become a law either way, New York’s vote was still very important because New York had a great influence on American culture and for the most part was putting up a hard fight against prohibition. However it was not long until people were swayed into voting for prohibition, the league found ways to appeal to almost every group of people and by January 29 1920 Prohibition became law (Lerner).
America’s inability to properly enforce the law was a big part of the reason why prohibition failed. There were many ways in which people could obtain or make alcohol themselves .The 18th Amendment outlawed the sale, manufacturing and transporting of alcoholic beverages but it did not ban the possession or consumption of alcohol, so if a person were to already have a stash of alcohol in their house it was theirs to keep. Prohibition did not at all stop people from consuming alcohol it only caused people to find new ways to make and obtain it .Many people were beginning to make alcohol in their homes. People were allowed to ferment juices in their home because of ethnic traditions of making vinegar. Vineyard owners shipped out their grapes with instructions on how “not” to make alcohol with them by letting them sit and adding yeast. Alcohol was also allowed to be consumed for medicinal and religious purposes, this left room for many loopholes and ways to exploit the law. Whiskey was allowed to be prescribed by pharmacists. After realizing this, people discovered that owning a pharmacy was an excellent way to bootleg alcohol. Bootleggers were making hundreds of thousands of dollars selling alcohol to patients specifically whiskey. Many people sold alcohol by boat as well. Smugglers were able to obtain boats easily at this time because of the stock market crash. Boats that were usually extremely expensive were able to be bought for 5 or 10 thousand dollars. Most alcohol was smuggled from Canada and the Caribbean. Smugglers who sold alcohol by boat were called rumrunners. Bill McCoy, who was a famous rumrunner bought alcohol from the Bahamas and sold it here and made about $300,000 per trip which would be over 3 million dollars today. (Wallace).
Crime rate increased tremendously from prohibition. Even though alcohol was illegal the people’s drive for alcohol did not diminish. People still found ways to obtain alcohol one way or another, turning thousands of normal Americans into criminals. People were just finding more ways to illegally manufacture or distribute alcohol. However it was not just the illegal trade that made people criminals, violence and robbery also increased during prohibition. In one case in Chicago six men robbed a Pharmacy at gun point and stole $100,000 worth of whiskey. Bootleggers became extremely skilled at making knockoff alcohol. In order to make profit some bootleggers would get industrial alcohol like ethanol or methanol added coloring or spices put on a fake label and sold It as name brand imported alcohol (Wallace).
Not only did bootlegging from prohibition Turn many people into criminals it also caused the death of thousands of people due to alcohol poisoning. Tainted alcohol was extremely detrimental to one’s health and took over 1,000 lives in America each year prohibition was active. Bootleggers were adding strange substances to alcohol to pass as other brands. Bootleggers would use ethanol, which is rubbing alcohol which has a very strong disgusting taste. Some bootleggers even used methanol (wood alcohol) which is used for fuel and isn’t meant for consumption, it can cause blindness and sometimes death Alcohol was sometimes made in unsanitary conditions which would cause poisoning. Homemade alcohol would sometimes be made in bathtubs which is extremely unsanitary and would cause people to get sick. Also the alcohol that was homemade or bootlegged was usually very disgusting. People were extremely desperate for alcohol so they were just drinking whatever there was to drink during that time. Drinking was used as a sign of rebellion and freedom, so whatever there was to drink people drank it, not to mention that more people were abusing alcohol. Prohibition did not at all help with the issue of alcoholics and alcohol abuse in America. Wayne Wheeler, a member of the Anti-Saloon League, completely underestimated the people’s will to obtain alcoholic beverages. It was this under estimate that caused so many flaws in the law which made prohibition a complete failure.
Prohibition had a negative impact on economics and on the government as a whole. Because of all the crime due to people distributing alcohol illegally the courts and jails were full. This made a lot of the process in the judicial branch much less efficient. There were times that a person would wait up to a year to go to trial. The police would often illegally purchase alcohol themselves from the smugglers. It was an extremely hypocritical time in America. There was corruption throughout the justice system .Many politicians who were pro-prohibition were drinkers themselves. In one case the director of a prohibition bureau planned to remove $4 million worth of whiskey, which was about 7 hundred thousand gallons, from a warehouse that was owned by the government. All 7 hundred thousand of the bottles disappeared, proving that there were large government conspiracies during prohibition. People were losing faith in the government. Because of the fact that everyone was a law-breaker, people were starting to lose respect for the law. To prove this Fiorello LaGuardia, a politician and the mayor of New York City in 1934, went to a drug store and purchased all the necessary ingredients to make beer and waited to be arrested. As expected nothing happened, no prohibition agent showed up and the police that was in the area didn’t bother to arrest him (Wallace). Bootlegging and smuggling was so common place that people were starting to have complete disregard for the law. Bootleggers were making so much money that the Internal Revenue Service was trying to find a way to receive money from taxes from the bootleggers. Prohibition also costed America millions of Dollars. This was because Prohibition took away the selling alcohol which was an entire industry by itself. Alcohol manufacturing companies that were making millions before are now all closing down, therefore costing America millions of dollars.
The Failure of the Prohibition Law was due to the many Loopholes in the law. The underestimation of Americans desire to obtain alcohol was what caused all these loopholes. The writers of the Law completely ignored the possibility that Americans would go out there way to get alcohol and also ignored the consequences that would arise because of this. This was related to America’s failure to properly enforce a law. Illegal purchasing and manufacturing became so common place that the law wasn’t enforced. Not to mention that national prohibition was originally something most people weren’t ok with. It took propaganda and empty promises to convince people to vote for prohibition. These empty promises left many people disappointed, because none of the things people hoped prohibition would do never happened .Prohibition made little to no accomplishments. It did not meet any of its expectations and only head negative results. Instead of lowering Crime, improving health, benefiting the economy, improving the environment and getting rid of corruption it increased crime, worsened health, put the economy in a worse position, made the environment less safe and caused more corruption in the American government than ever before.

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