1920s Prohibition Research Paper

Think back to an era filled with speakeasies, smooth jazz, bootleggers, mob bosses and alcohol. This may all seem like an intro to an action movie. However, this is the Prohibition era of the 1920s, when the U.S. Government outlawed the voluntary right to drink alcohol. Prohibition was not an entirely brand new thing during the 1900s, with America already having temporary prohibition during World War I. Once it ended, a lot of propaganda began to be put up about how drinking alcohol was unAmerican. The government would not vote on prohibition for a little while after because the tax on alcohol made up around 40% of their revenue. After the creation of the income tax, the government no longer needed alcohol and the 18th amendment outlawed the

With all of this money, he could do whatever he liked. Mr. Capone could murder, steal, and sell illegal alcohol at his own convenience because he was rich enough that paying a cop a few thousand dollars was pennies for him. The other major issue of prohibition was the violence initiated between gangs. Prohibition allowed gangs and mobs to make an astronomical amount of money, with this money came rivalries and revenge. The National Archives says “As organized crime syndicates grew throughout the Prohibition era, territorial disputes often transformed America’s cities into violent battlegrounds. Homicides, burglaries, and assaults consequently increased significantly between 1920 and 1933”(“Prohibition and the Rise of the American Gangster”). As the wealth of local mob bosses grew and grew, this made them more and more greedy. That greed inevitably turned into violence. The most notable massacre during this time period was the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. During this event, Mr. Al Capone had his best hit men dress up as cops and murder rival gang members. According to the Cato Institute, the homicide rate in America increased by over 78% during the prohibition