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Essay On The 18th Amendment

758 Words4 Pages

In 1920, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. cConstitution was authorized. A ramification of this act was Prohibition, which banned the production, travel and sale of alcohol. Prohibition was unfavorable and wearisome to enforce. The federal and local government could not handle it; the IRS was first given the job to enforce Prohibition, but it was later transferred to the Justice Department. An increase of support to ending the Prohibition occurred when illegal manufacturing and vending of alcohol started, known as bootlegging, the popularity of speakeasies soared, and violence and crimes increased to numbers never seen before. In 1933, Congress proposed the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, this would dismiss the 18th amendment. The 21st Amendment was approved by the end of 1933 and the Prohibition era ended. There were two main lessons that the Prohibition taught. The first being it was erroneous to make laws on morals. The second lesson was you cannot do it, for the Prohibition failed. All laws are similar to a moral judgment of good and bad. We cannot help from making moral …show more content…

Most people obeyed the law; after Prohibition was enacted, deaths from liver cirrhosis did notably decrease. However, the path chosen to protect women and children from alcoholic husbands and fathers was too tricky. The alcohol sold on the black market was unregulated and sold at high prices, it was made more potent and dangerous. Organized crime ascended and prospered because of the new market the 18th Amendment created. The national government was called to try to stop people from their alcoholic tendencies, but the national government should not have to look at local or domestic problems such as these. Corruption thrived as law enforcement officials who were in charge of enforcing prohibition, took bribes to look the other way for bootlegging and informing people ahead of time before speakeasies were

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