The Pros And Cons Of The Prohibition

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How would you react if you were informed that Congress was passing a law that would make alcohol illegal to buy, sell or consume in the near future? Believe it or not, during the roaring twenties alcohol was banned due to the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment. During the 1920’s prohibition was approved by Congress to decrease addiction and immoral activity amongst society, but instead it ignited the creation of organized crime. The research I performed supports why prohibition was fought for and legalized, how Americans who opposed prohibition challenged it, and how organized crime was formed. During Herbert Hoover’s presidency, his Legislature ratified the Eighteenth Amendment in January of 1919 but it did not take effect until a year later. The amendment was passed with the high hopes of forbidding the production, sale, transport, import or export of all alcoholic beverages. The government believed that when prohibition was approved, it would reduce criminal activity, burdened taxes, and improve the overall health in America. The Prohibition Era, also known as “The Great Experiment” had the purpose of cleansing the American society of it’s evils by outlawing all alcoholic beverages. From the beginning of colonial times, groups of people in the United States viewed the consumption of alcohol to be sinful and an extreme hazard to one’s health. Due to the fact that alcohol was exceptionally cheap to buy and make, it was accessible to everyone, whether they were rich or poor. As the use of alcohol rose and became a part of the general population’s daily life; crime, violence and death rates grew, too. The high rates gave the people who saw the use of alcohol to be morally wrong, the excuse to blame the public’s problems on li... ... middle of paper ... ...l had been smuggled and distrubted throught the united states like a one of the seven deadly plagues. Al capone thrived from the corruption and in turn he earned over 100 million dollars in revenue per equalling over one billion dollars today. Prohibition had tainted America instead of cleansing immoral activity and unethical behavior it had opened pandoras box. As criminal activity rose to it’s highest peak in history, so did the occupancy of all federal penitentiaries in the United States of America. As corruption spread, desperation did too causing the unemployed to lean towards and become bootleggers in order to support their starving families. Even though they were well aware of the consequences of breaking the law, they were willing to take the risks. Prohibition had gone from a sign of hope to a time of unspeakable violence and corruption. During the 1920’s

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