Argumentative Essay About Prohibition

For my argumentative essay topic, I would like to write about the negative effects that alcohol prohibition had in America (Maybe just Chicago) between 1920-1933. The title to this essay will be “Prohibition: How to Make an American Gangster” or something to that effect. In the essay I plan to argue that prohibition was the root cause of the increasing crime rates and corruption in America due to the 18th Amendment being put into law. In an article, David J. Hanson explains, “The Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919. It went into effect one year later, January 16, 1920. It was repealed by the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933. In the over 230 years of the U.S. Constitution, the 18th is the only Amendment ever repealed.” I plan to use the interesting fact about the repeal of Amendment 18 to build an argument about the negative effects of alcohol prohibition in America between the 1920-1933.

With the new prohibition laws in place a new breed of American Gangsters was born. With a nation of drunks now unable to legally feed their addictions the criminals now had a new way to make money. In an article by Lisa Andersen she explains, “Criminal organizations profited from Americans’ insatiable desire for liquor, and then defended those profits by murdering hundreds of their competitors and infiltrating legitimate businesses, labor unions, and government.” I believe that the increasing criminal activity is directly related to the new prohibition laws that were put into place. The new breed of criminals would go on to use organized crime and corruption make a profit off of the new prohibition law no matter what the cost, even if it cost them their own