Before the 1920’s there was a movement to prohibit the sale and use of alcohol. But it was only until 1920 that prohibition was actually put into place. Trouble started to arise when the people started to rebel the new laws. Which is why historians today believe prohibition was just a mistake made by the American government. In reality all prohibition did was cause more issues with organized crime and breaking the law. The safety of everyday civilians were put into danger with the illegal sell and use of alcohol. Gang fights were brought to the streets and the illegal sale of alcohol was brought into everyday establishments. As prohibition progressed more problems arose and turned everyday law abiding citizens into criminals overnight. Throughout
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Women were the ones mainly affected by their husband’s alcohol abuse. Their support finally pushed the government to pass the Volstead Act which states it is illegal to own or sell alcohol, more specifically, “to prohibit intoxicating beverages, and to regulate the manufacture, production, use, and sale of high- proof spirits for other than beverage purposes,”(?). The Volstead Act enforced a first time offender of this crime to be punished with 6 months in jail and/ or a $1,000 fine. Later on the Volstead Act was amended by the Jones Act which changed the punishment from 6 months or a $1000 to possibly five year or a $10,000 fine. This was such a drastic change made by the government to try and scare the people. The people were rebelling against the 18th amendment so much that the government tried to scare the people into going along with the new amendment. They attempted this by raising the penalties, but it did barely anything to the crime rates. People did not care at that point because they felt that they needed the alcohol despite the risk they were taking. Which is why in the long run Prohibition did quite the opposite of what it was intended for. All it did was raise crime rates and popularized organized crime and the corrupt government. This was all made possible by simply attempting to ban a thing almost every American used on a daily basis. Whether that thing is dangerous or not, the American public will fight for their right to have
Women were the ones mainly affected by their husband’s alcohol abuse. Their support finally pushed the government to pass the Volstead Act which states it is illegal to own or sell alcohol, more specifically, “to prohibit intoxicating beverages, and to regulate the manufacture, production, use, and sale of high- proof spirits for other than beverage purposes,”(?). The Volstead Act enforced a first time offender of this crime to be punished with 6 months in jail and/ or a $1,000 fine. Later on the Volstead Act was amended by the Jones Act which changed the punishment from 6 months or a $1000 to possibly five year or a $10,000 fine. This was such a drastic change made by the government to try and scare the people. The people were rebelling against the 18th amendment so much that the government tried to scare the people into going along with the new amendment. They attempted this by raising the penalties, but it did barely anything to the crime rates. People did not care at that point because they felt that they needed the alcohol despite the risk they were taking. Which is why in the long run Prohibition did quite the opposite of what it was intended for. All it did was raise crime rates and popularized organized crime and the corrupt government. This was all made possible by simply attempting to ban a thing almost every American used on a daily basis. Whether that thing is dangerous or not, the American public will fight for their right to have