How Successful Was Prohibition Dbq

On December 17, 1917, the prohibition law was created to make alcohol illegal in America. The government thought they were helping America with all their problems that were caused by alcohol like child/spouse abuse, corruption, crime, etc. The only thing prohibition did was make everything worse. America went into debt, some people were not supportive of it, and even the government officials were not following their own law.
After the prohibition law was passed, America started to lose money. According to Doc E, America lost a little over $20 million. People were so desperate for alcohol that they started to make their own and find any way to smuggle it in. The government was not making any money off these bootleggers or people who made their own alcohol because it was self profit and there was no tax for them to collect. The government didn’t know about this for awhile because it was impossible for them to patrol the border between Mexico and Canada (Doc C). They also started losing money after alcohol companies were shut down and stores had to stop selling alcohol. …show more content…
People were very desperate for alcohol that they did anything for it which led to many illegal things going on in America. According to Doc H people would have their whole family helping out with making their own alcohol. People were very smart on hiding their alcohol like putting it in canes, hiding giant flasks, hiding it under their coats, etc (Doc I). In most cases, you have people who disagree on things and in this case it was many women who supported prohibition because of their husbands who were drunks. Doc F shows a letter written by a woman who states that she needs help with her husband’s drinking problem. The woman goes as far as to giving information on who her husband buys alcohol