Burkholder, Kingsley, Jones 1

Brenton Burkholder, Brett Kingsley, Carson Jones

Mr. Harkins
Honors American History (1)
6 December, 2016
Prohibition
Prohibition is a law that banned alcohol from 1920 to 1933. Many people fought alcohol
because they believed that it caused problems in family lives because drunken husbands would
come home and beat their wife and kids. The people that fought prohibition were labeled as dry
crusaders. These dry crusaders eventually made groups to help fight against alcohol. The first
small groups were started as early as the 1830s, and were mostly run by church groups and
women. Soon these groups became popular, and the fight against alcohol became very strong.
In 1869, right after the Civil War, the Prohibition Party was formed. This party was the
first to make women's suffrage as their main voting point. Ten years later in 1874 the Womens
Christian Temperance Movement was formed. This group created an anti-alcohol education
campaign that was very successful, and they also lobbied for local laws to ban alcohol. In 1893
the Anti-Saloon League was created. This group became the leader in fighting for prohibition.
Kansas became the first state to ban alcohol in 1881. Carry Nation got a lot of credit for
this ban because she would to go to bars to smash bottles and scold customers. In the next 38
years, 33 other states followed Kansas in banning alcohol. On January 29th, 1919 the 18th
Amendment went into effect. This amendment banned the sale and manufacturing of all
alcoholic beverages in the United States.
The 18th Amendment caused a decline in arrest for drunkenness and, 30 percent less
people consumed alcohol. But it didn't keep everyone from drinking. Some people started

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bootlegging, which is the illegal manufacturing and selling of liquor, and speakeasies
became popular because they were places sol alcohol illegally. Prohibition also caused a raise in
criminal activity. The most famous criminal was Al Capone, who gained more than $60 million
dollars from bootlegging.
When the Great Depression started in 1932 the nation was desperate for more money.
Franklin D. Roosevelt made the end of prohibition a key point in his presidential campaign,
which helped him pull out an easy victory against Herbert Hoover. In December 1933 the
amendment was ratified due to the 21st Amendment. Some states did continue prohibition, but
by 1966 every state abandoned the law.
With the end of World War I, the economy began to prosper. The Republican presidents
began to encourage the growth of business. Calvin Coolidge says, The business of America is
business (Feinstein 5). With the nation hearing this, they started to put work in. This introduced
us to the Golden Twenties time period. People had money to spend, which was a new thing.
Others thought this was bad, and that people would spend their money on luxuries, like alcohol,
instead of necessities, like food and water.
Alcohol has been in America since the seventeenth century, and men and woman have
always been trying to get it banned. When the finally succeeded, not too many people were
affected. There were loopholes in the law, so people stored liquor before the Amendment was
passed. Also doctors wrote millions of prescriptions for liquor. Saloons and taverns never went
out of business, they only became speakeasies. It was like liquor was never really banned.
The farmers experienced the worst impact. They were taking major income losses due to
selling less barley and hops, which were major ingredients in alcohol. Other businesses were shut
down like distilleries. Because of this, some sectors of the economy were hurt. But with

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prohibition came unlawful behavior. With crimes of bootlegging and rum- runners introduced,
gangs were on the rise. Gangs would fight for control of neighborhoods and the police would do
nothing about it because the gangs paid them off. The law enforcement became corrupt and the
public lost respect of them.
When prohibition was finally appealed, the American public was relieved. Americans
could finally transport and manufacture alcohol legally. Prohibition didnt leave much of a mark
on American society. One of the few effects of prohibition was it caused close to 1 million
dollars of debt for the United States Government. Many of this money was made back through
the taxing of alcoholic beverages. Prohibition truly had few effects on the American public once
it was repealed.
Prohibition is related to a few things in modern day society. It is currently most closely
related to the legalization of marijuana in the United States. The government is using the same
approach as they did with prohibition. The method they are using is called a cat and mouse,
this means they are putting it up for vote in a few states and allowing them to decide. If
marijuana becomes legal, they see the effects on the states income, crime levels, and marijuana
related problems. This is just like how prohibition was, were they tried banning alcohol in some
states to test it out, except they were making alcohol illegal and seeing the effects on the
economy and society.

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Works Cited
Beyer, Mark. Temperance and Prohibition the Movement to Pass Ant-liquor Laws in America.
The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2006.
Feinstein, Stephen. The 1920s from Prohibition to Charles Lindbergh. Enslow
Publishers, 2006.
"PBS: Prohibition." Gale Student Resources in Context, Gale, 2012. Student Resources in
Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/PC4205135007/SUIC?
u=west13579&xid=b0fb91e7. Accessed 12 Dec. 2016.
"Prohibition." History, A+E Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/prohibition.