The ‘Great Experiment, also know as the prohibition took place in the 1920s and lasted until 1933. It banned the manufacturing, sale, and transportation of all liquor in the United States. The prohibition proved to be extremely hard to enforce and enables gangsters including Al Capone to arise. Due to the prohibitions obvious failures, it lost support and was eventually brought to an end. The prohibition was truly a steppingstone for the United States that brought many lessons with it. Prohibition began long before the 1920s. It first surfaced during the 1820 and 1830s, when a religious revivalism swept throughout the United States. The state of Massachusetts was the first to pass a temperance law that banned the sale of spirits in less that …show more content…
It was the gangsters who provided this commodity to the average person. Every major city had its own gangsters that provided liquor; however by far the most famous was Al Capone. Al Capone ruled over Chicago for many years and was the dominant force in almost everything illegal. Capone first moved to Chicago in 1920 to work for Johnny Torrio who was public enemy number one at the beginning of the 1920s. Capone’s task was to intimidate Torrio’s rivals in Chicago in hope that they would give up their territory and hand it over to Torrio. Along with this, he had to help persuade the speakeasy’s in and around Chicago to buy illegal liquor from Torrio. Torrio handed over the ‘business’ to Capone when he was almost killed by a rival gang. This helped increase Capone’s wealth drastically. History Learning Site.co states, “Within 2 years, Capone was earning $60 million a year from alcohol sales alone. Other rackets earned him an extra $45 million a year.” (Prohibition and The Gangster, History Learning Site.co) This displays how the prohibition increased certain people wealth drastically with the example of Capone. Capone was able to bribe not only police officers but politicians of the Chicago area. It is said that he spent approximately seventy-five million dollars bribing these officials. Capone at one point even had the mayor of Chicago on his payroll. Finally, in 1931 Capone was