How Did Prohibition Affect The Economy

Prohibition, also known as the 18th Amendment of the United States Constitution, banned the transportation and sales of alcohol. It was formed to stop drinking in the United States completely which resulted in the complete opposite. Prohibition lasted from January 1920 to December 1933. Prohibition had two main causes it affected the economy greatly, crime increased dramatically, and increased the literary and artistic movement. Many people saw prohibition as a violation to their freedom and it did not take long for the Americans to begin protesting against it. Alcohol was looked at as the belief that it caused most of the worlds problems. The sales of alcoholic beverages were still remained illegal during this period but it did not stop people from smuggling liquor over and secretly make beer, also known as bootlegging. Prohibition increased bootlegging which was the illegal production and sales of liquor. Bootleggers illegally produced alcohol into underground watering holes and began illegally selling alcohol to

Crimes nearly skyrocketed due to the bootleggers organized crime of transportation and sales to sneak alcohol. Bootleggers began their smuggling of liquor into the United States by crossing the Canadian and Mexican borders and ship transportation from the Bahamas and Cuba. The smuggling became even more riskier and more expensive once the Coast Guards started searching the ships from coast to coast but bootleggers had other sources of supply. Gangs began to take control of the bootlegging industry and go from state to state picking up more people. Al Capone was the leader during the Prohibition era of Chicago. He made about sixty million dollars from illegally selling alcohol to Americans. Gangsterism made a huge impact during the Prohibition era and organized crimes and they started taking over and soon hurting