Prohibition: The 18th Amendment's Impact on America

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The 18th amendment was ratified on January 16, 1920. It was a very drastic measure taken by the United States government to reduce drinking and crime by outlawing the businesses that manufactured, distributed, and sold alcoholic beverages (“Why Prohibition?”). Its passage was the result of a “widespread temperance movement” during the first ten years of the 20th century that sought to end all vices and turn the United States into a land of morality (“Prohibition”). The amendment led to the period in American history known as Prohibition, an era that lasted almost fourteen years and was characterized by “speakeasies, glamor, gangsters, and a period of time in which even the average citizen broke the law” (Rosenberg). Clearly, the Prohibition …show more content…

One example of this is the Prohibition Party of the United States. According to their website, they are interested in reducing “gambling, job insecurity, trivialized education, spouse and child abuse, intrusive governmental regulations, drinking, and more” (“Prohibition Party Background”). According to their 2012 party platform, the Prohibition Party has opposed the “the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages since 1869” (“2012 Party Platform”). The party believes that alcohol is “America’s #1 narcotic drug problem,” and state that “the use of alcohol and tobacco is responsible for 40% of the total cost of healthcare in America” (“2012 Party Platform”). The party also lists many benefit that were caused by national prohibition in the 1920s; these benefits include but are not limited to: “wife beating and lack of family support decreased 82%, assault decreased 53.1%, vagrancy decreased 52.8%, disorderly conduct decreased 51.5%, delinquency decreased 50.0%, deaths due to cirrhosis decreased 50.0%, the number of inmates in jails and prisons decreased 75%, general domestic complaints decreased by two-thirds, county hospital death rates were historically low, alcohol became almost unavailable, prostitution decreased, and the national crime rate (excluding Chicago) declined 38%; in Chicago, the crime rate declined 25% (despite some well-publicized criminal events)” (“Benefits of National Prohibition”). Ultimately, the Prohibition Party believes that by reinstating the 18th Amendment and outlawing alcohol many of today’s societal problems can be resolved or

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