Prohibition: Why Did America Change Its Mind? Al Capone once said “ Prohibition has done nothing but trouble”. Ending the manufacture and transport of alcohol will only make situations worse. After the 18th Amendment was passed, the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in the U.S. was illegal. This Amendment caused the making of the wets and the drys. The wets pushed away from prohibition and the drys believed prohibition was good because men brought home their paychecks, instead of wasting it gambling. Why did America change its mind about prohibition? America changed its mind about prohibition because of economic reasons, crime, and lack of respect for the law. One reason America changed its mind about prohibition was because of economic reasons (money). The document states “ if the liquor now sold by bootleggers was legally sold, regulated, and taxed, the (tax) income would pay the entire local and National debt (Doc E). …show more content…
When the 18th Amendment was passed the U.S. thought that crime would decrease. The U.S. was wrong, it actually caused more crime. In the political cartoon, “ prohibition is on the sides of Gangsters, Racketeers, Bootleggers, and Dope sellers”(Doc A). Criminals became rich because of the 18th amendment . Crime increased because criminals started to kill each other for territories, where they sell their alcoholic beverages. According to the graph, “the homicide rate during prohibition was greater than the homicide rate before prohibition” (Doc B). Since alcohol was banned, crime rates went up because of all criminals wanting to make money off the illegal alcohol. Also, selling the alcohol became a problem. Other gangs that sold their alcohol in unfamiliar territory would get killed by rival gangs. In conclusion, crime has really gone up. Crime was at its peak because of the passing of the 18th amendment. Al Capone played a big role when it came to