Alcohol Prohibition In The 1920's

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Alcohol Prohibition occurred between 1920 to 1933. It prohibited the manufacturing, transporting, importing, exporting, and sales of alcohol. It restricted alcohol by making it illegal. “Prohibition was supposed to lower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, lower taxes, needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America” (1920’s). It did none of these things. Although there were good motives behind the government’s intentions to evoke the prohibition of alcohol, crime and corruption increased. A lot of organized crime blossomed during this time period due to prohibition. Money was placed into the pockets of Gangster’s such as Al Capone. Many police and public officials also were put into these crime …show more content…
In December of 1917, prohibition was passed. Come January, it was decided that it would be partial prohibition to conserve grain for the war effort. It was argued that the grain should be made to make bread, not for alcohol for the men in the war, though that never happened (Digital). Wine produced in the United States was kept in the government warehouses for use in religious ceremonies. Whisky was made available for medicinal uses and had a warning label attached to the prescription. The number of patients who got prescribed whisky increased over one million gallons consumed per year and were made free through the use of prescription orders (1920’s). “In 1919, the requisite number of legislatures of the states ratified the 18th amendment to the Federal Constitution, enabling national prohibition within one year of ratification” (1920’s). Ratification means to confirm or approve. ”At midnight, on January 16th, 1920, the United States went dry: breweries, distilleries and saloons were forced to close their doors” (Digital p.1). Demand for repeal increased. In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to repeal. Forty-six of the United States favored repeal. The twenty-first amendment went into effect in 1933 which repealed the eighteenth amendment. Some states continued with prohibition. Thirty-eight percent of the United States population still lived in areas …show more content…
People found ways of maneuvering themselves around the law. Alcohol was smuggled from Canada, overland, and through the Great Lakes (1920’s). Speakeasies were cropping up everywhere. There were 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasies in New York alone (Noor). Many turned to homebrewing their own beer or liquor, others resorted to racketeering, some people became rum runners or totatolers or made bathtub gin. ““Malt and hop” stores also cropped up across the country and some former breweries even turned to selling malt extract syrup, used for baking and “beverage” purposes”

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