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18th Amendment Pros And Cons

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As the roaring twenties reached their end the battle against alcohol in the United States is just arising to a turning point. With serious controversy over the Volstead Act the country was greatly divided. There was also the extreme rising occurrences of crime, the creation of gangs and a newly established, unorganized criminal justice system. Prohibition was a disaster across America and the more reforment from the government just made things worse. In 1928 Herbert Hoover is elected president burning the dust off onto Al Smith by simply walking away with electoral votes, winning 444-40. Hoover designed his campaign to focus on rebuilding America. As Lisa Mcgirr explains it in her book “The War on Alcohol”, “The nation was awash in illegal …show more content…

Throughout Prohibition it was enormously controverse. Also the Volstead Act has not shown much effectiveness considering its main goal was to take away workers spending on alcohol, as well as keeping domestic violence of alcoholics out of the home. Yet, all the law brought was insanely higher amounts of spending on alcohol and brought the violence to the streets in a immense form of federal criminality. Even though many people wanted to dispose of the Eighteenth Amendment it was so unlikely to happen because never before in U.S. history has persevered and later on wanted to reverse. McGirr quotes George K. Statham when she writes “‘the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment is about as likely as the repeal of the Thirteenth Amendment, the return of dueling, or gladiatorial combats….The world moves, and it has never yet taken a great moral or social step forward and afterwards retraced its step.’ Five years later, the Twenty-First Amendment broke the Eighteenth Amendment’s record speed for ratification…”(pg.233) Many reasons were given as to why the Eighteenth Amendment was revoked. Mostly because it was more tearing the country down rather than building the country up and America is a country that looks towards the future in moving forward in developing the nation to make it the best country in the world. McGirr concludes onto multiple different points onto why the government revoked the amendment. “Widespread disrespect for law, controversial actions of the Volstead vigilante enforcers, ever more draconian enforcement legislation, and the siren song of nightlife culture experimentation led former supporters to conclude that law was doing more harm than good.”(pg.233) People began to realize the harmful effects of the Volstead Act that was crumbling the nation as Prohibition continued to lose continuously more supporters from 1928. Another reason for loss of especially government support in the Eighteenth Amendment was the economical perspective. As the

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It would take 13 years until the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed by the Twenty-first came into effect because by the end of the 1920s many Americans were already growing tired of the decision. America was facing an economic depression and the government knew that if they legalized alcohol sales that there would be a good amount of revenue coming through to help get them through the crisis. In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt who was against Prohibition ran against President Herbert Hoover and won the election. Once Roosevelt was in office, they were able to finally appeal the amendment and the Prohibition era was no more, much to the delight of the

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In 1919, Congress passed the 18th Amendment which banned the sale and consumption of alcohol in America (Doc B). Prohibitionists overlooked the tenacious American tradition of strong drink and of weak control by the central government. Thus, there was tension between the modernists and the traditionalists. Although the amendment was passed, alcohol was still distributed illegally. Actually, prohibition spawned many crimes, such as illegal sale of alcohol and gang wars.

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Gangsters like Al Capone and George Remus provided alcohol,” (Lisa Anderson). In making this remark Lisa Anderson believes the 18th amendment caused more of a negative impact than a positive one. There was also a loophole that existed was that the amendment did not prohibit the drinking of alcohol

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The Prohibition Act was created to stop the consumption of Alcohol during the 1920’s. According to Congress the best way to limit alcohol consumption in America was making the 18th Amendment stating“ Any room,

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Also it contains the regulations of manufacturing, transportation and the sale of alcohol within the United States (Alcohol Prohibition, 2015). From this some states increased the restrictions even further than the Volstead Act. The Act was popular for many years. The citizens followed the rules. The decrease of the use can 't actually be measured because there 's no actual sales numbers to see but the estimate is is about 30% during the first years of the Prohibition.

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Illegal liquor came from many different places, that were very hard to police. The 18th Amendment caused more problems than it

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Why did America change its mind on prohibition? Well it all started on January 16th 1919 in Nebraska when you weren’t allowed to sale alcohol. The state and government are the ones would have the power to pass the laws that requires Americans to obey the Amendment. Place yourself in 1920 if you had the choice to pass the law of prohibition would you? If it was me I wouldn’t because it would save a lot of trouble and arguments.

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Violence, riots, and domestic abuse are very common as a result of alcohol consumption. People of this time wanted a way to get rid of the negative effects of alcohol and what better way then to ban alcohol altogether? The 18th amendment says, “After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited”. Though the thought behind the amendment was good, people did not want to give up drinking alcohol. To many people, alcohol was a way to wind down and relax after a long day of working in the factories, which were generally very unpleasant in many ways.

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Speakeasies and prohibition were the single biggest influence on the society of the 1920’s, coupled with of the ineffectiveness of prohibition, massive amounts of vice was prevalent. The idea of prohibition was a good one and was founded on a solid base. Even way back in colonial times, the fight to have a ban on alcohol was one of some merit. There was even times when individual states took it upon themselves to ban alcohol. However, none of them match up to the effect that an amendment to the Constitution would have.

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The 1920’s was an era filled with new changes and inventions, cultural developments and numerous political conflicts. In January of 1920, the 18th amendment placed a ban on the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol. Organized crime was already present, but the Prohibition Era drastically increased its activity. The closure of all alcohol related companies was the main reason behind increased unemployment ; diligent Americans suddenly were drinking a banned substance. During these tough times, families turned to crime in order to make fast money.

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Prohibition led to the rise of organized crime and failed as a policy due to many loopholes and large numbers of corrupt officials. Though started with good intentions it was not a good policy because it destroyed jobs and attempted to destroy an industry. These reasons lead to Prohibition’s failure and the repealing of the 18th Amendment in

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In 1919, the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution was added. It said that nobody could make, move, or sell alcohol. The Volstead Act was used to make sure the 18th Amendment was followed. It said that a drink was only an alcoholic beverage if it had more than 0.5% alcohol. People who made moved, or sold alcoholic drinks could be punished.

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The prohibition era, also known as the Volstead Act or 18th Amendment was a strong temperance movement. It was introduced to the American society in 1920, banning alcohol consumption, the selling and purchase of alcohol, manufacture of alcohol. Americans absolutely loved their alcohol but because of the abolishment, the attitudes of Americans began to change. People were breaking the law for the first time.

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Prohibition supporters, called “dries”, present it as a victory for public morals and health. It created a surge of organized crime and eventually they repealed the amendment. The Volstead act was a big reason prohibition went into effect. Prohibition was a ban on the production importation and sale of alcoholic beverages. “I found out what your ‘drug-stores’ were.”

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