The Failure of Prohibition in America
The Failure of Prohibition in America
Throughout the 1920’s, the United States experienced a number of changes. From the granting of women’s suffrage in 1919 to the stock market crash of 1929, the twenties were a time for change. Some changes were for good, such as the invention of the radio, the inexpensive automobile, and movies. Some changes, however, were for worse, such as the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the coming about of a communist party in the United States. But the United States felt one of the most negative impacts from something known as Prohibition. Prohibition, which was made law by the eighteenth amendment to the constitution, made the creation, transportation, sale, and consumption of alcohol illegal, with exception of the alcohol used for religious and medical purposes. Prohibition had a negative impact on the United States because of the resulting organized crime, the resulting corruption of police, federal agents, and other government officials, and the lack of enforcement and organization required to enforce.
Prohibition had a negative impact on the United States because of the resulting organized crime. When Prohibition was put into effect, it opened a new market for the illegal sale of alcohol. But before the illegal sale of alcohol could occur, it first had to be illegally created and illegally transported. Who, you ask, created, transported, and sold these illegal beverages? The answer is criminals, but not just petty criminals, organized gangs- mobs. Many gangs got their start with bootlegging. They used moonshine stills to make the alcohol, and they sold it in speakeasies. Speakeasies were secretive, highly exclusive clubs where mostly the upper class would go to drink. Speakeasies could be found in the form of delicatessen stores, pool rooms, millinery shops, private parlors, drug stores, and 57 other varieties. So, perhaps Prohibition eliminated the repulsive saloon, but it brought it brought it back in over 60 different forms of speakeasies. Most of the drinking that went on in speakeasies was very excessive and almost always to the point of drunkenness. These speakeasies had a negative impact on the U.S. because they provided a good place for meetings of political machines, but more importantly because they provided mobs with money. Once mobs had gained enough money from bootlegging, they could spread into other illegal activities...