Prohibition Dbq Research Paper

Imagine walking by a sports bar that shut down because it can't sell alcohol. That was a reality in the days of Prohibition. Prohibition was America's attempt at solving many of its alcohol caused issues. Though many people thought it was a good idea, it soon was repealed by Americans as it did not do what it was meant to do, stop the problems, all it did was create more. Prohibition was the banning of anything to do with alcohol, such as trading, possessing, or buying it. It seemed great in theory, so why did America change its mind and lift the ban on alcohol? America repealed Prohibition for three reasons: crime, concerns over law enforcement and respect for the law, and economics. Prohibition caused an increase in crime. For example criminals loved Prohibition as many got rich from illegally selling alcohol (doc.A). This shows that Prohibition benefited criminals financially, but hurt the normal law following citizens. Another example would be that during Prohibition the national murder rates reached new heights, up 50% from before Prohibition started …show more content…
For example, document C states that it was easy to smuggle the alcohol through many loopholes in the law, as it was impossible to patrol thousands of acres of land and sea borders. This shows that America had too few enforcement agents, only about 3,000, and it was easy for bootleggers and rum runners to make alcohol on land and sea. Another example from document D states that even the Congressmen are infringing the law, as there were bootleggers running up and down the halls, and Congressmen were showing up to work in a drunken state. This also shows that there was open drinking among some Congressmen, wich made Prohibition even harder to respect. This is very important as poor-law enforcement caused concern and Americans feared a breakdown of law and order. Repeal was