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Prohibition Dbq Essay

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Al Capone said, “Prohibition has made nothing but trouble.” Al Capone was a famous bootlegger during the Prohibition Era and he is right; prohibition did cause trouble. The Prohibition Era was the time from 1920 to 1933 in which consuming, producing, or possessing alcohol over 1% was illegal in America. Prohibition and the Volstead Act was meant to decrease crime, boost economic growth, and aid America as a whole. America was hoping to solve all of its problem by eliminating liquor, when in reality it caused more. It decreased production, increased crime, and was practically impossible to enforce. Prohibition was primarily insignificant, but, why did America take the time to eradicate the amendment?
First, Prohibition caused the United States …show more content…

There were thousands of bootleggers, but only 3,000 to 3,500 enforcement agents to stop prohibition (Doc C). How can only a few thousand people combat the illegal actions of millions? Often, moonshiners weren’t caught. One moonshining operation ran for months with a hole connecting them to a police station (Doc C). The police could probably smell the alcohol and possibly catch the criminals, yet they didn’t. Why have a law that is not punishable?There was also no deference for the law. Moonshiners didn’t take any head from the amendment, and didn’t care about it (Doc H). They seemed to walk all over it, not caring about the consequences. Furthermore, even Congressmen and Senators broke the 18th Amendment (Doc D). Mabel Walker Willebrandt, a Deputy for the U.S. Attorney General for Prohibition Enforcement during the Prohibition Era, said that the leaders of the country would drink alcohol and not be punished (Doc D). It is not right when the lawmakers become the lawbreakers. They cannot then expect millions of people to happily oblige to follow the law if they themselves do not. It is unjust and hypocritical. Breaking the amendment they themselves created just granted others the opportunity to do the

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Haskin, for months moonshiners had a ‘still,’ (where they manufactured alchol) next to the police station. This means that local policemen either werent paying attention,or they were in support with the moonshiners. Fredrick also explains the three mile limit. The three mile limit made it legal to ship boozee as long as they(smugglers) stayed within a three mile radius ocean boundry. As long as smugglers followed, authorities wouldnt secure past three miles,because they didnt care.

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A reason that Prohibition failed is that it was hard to enforce. For example, in Document C, controlling the trade of thousands of miles of border and ocean was incredibly difficult, and nearly impossible in the cover of night. This isn't helped by the fact that there were only around 3,250 agents working for the cause. If you wanted to get alcohol from overseas, you'd just need to take a boat 3 miles out to sea and pick up a shipment under the cover of darkness.

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Why did America repeal something they were originally so for? America decided to repeal the 18th Amendment of Prohibition because of the increase in crime, the inability to enforce the law, and basic economics. After the 18th Amendment was approved, crime increased dramatically. According to Document B, before Prohibition, homicides were at an average of 6 deaths per 100,000 people in America. Once Prohibition was put into place, there was an immediate increase in murders.

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The men who created this law were not even following it. A deputy U.S Attorney General for Prohibition enforcement, Mabel Walker Willebrandt explains she is tired of the hypocrisy. It she showed by her asking “How can you have the heart to prosecute a bootlegger, send a man to jail for six months or a year for selling a pint or quart of whiskey, when you know for a fact that the men who make the laws.. Are themselves patronizing bootleggers?”

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The amendment was intended to create an abstinence from alcoholic beverages. In this time period most people drank alcoholic beverages there wasn’t many people back then that did not drink. “ The 18th amendment was ratified in 1919, congress passed the Volstead Act to enforce national prohibition” (the 18th amendment ushers in the prohibition Era: January 16, 1919). It was repealed in 1933 by the ratification of the 21st amendment. The only thing that the government wanted to do was control the drinking but that is like taking someones freedoms ways.

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Prohibition was an amendment that caused the ban of alcohol and anything related to it. America was suffering because of alcohol, so prohibition was enforced. Little did the country know, prohibition would cause America to suffer far more. America was facing various problems due to alcohol such as death, crime, and loss of money. America expected to solve these problems by banning alcohol; never did the country expect the problems to worsen.

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Document J shows a short article written by Mabel Willebrandt that states that people loved it so much that even the people that made the law were breaking it. Alcohol was a very common drink for senators and congressmen. The University of Albany wrote that since you couldn't drink out in the public, people were forced to drink at home. This led to children being heavily influenced by illegal activity such as drinking illegally manufactured alcohol. A letter from Mrs. Hillyer to the authorities showed that people were actually using their money for alcohol instead of their necessities.

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Then back in the U.S came the Volstead act, which was enacted to carry out the intent of the 18th Amendment (ratified January 1919), which established prohibition in the United States (“Volstead”). Yet the eighteenth amendment and the Volstead act weren't enforced very well. As in the matter a fact bootlegging, speakeasies, and distilling operation become a bigger and bigger. The earliest bootlegging operations began when gang associates started smuggling liquor over

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Nobody wants prohibition anymore, and it is not reasonable for the 18th amendment to last any

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Although drinking was generally thought to have declined during Prohibition, it had instead, continued uninterrupted in many parts of the country, particularly in large cities and areas with large foreign-born populations. Smuggling on such a large scale could not be prevented, and the illegal manufacture of liquor sprang up with such speed that authorities were hard pressed to contain it. Thus began a period of illegal drinking, lawbreaking, organized crime, and the corruption of public officials. During Prohibition there was a 24 percent increase in crime rate between 1920 and 1921. The rate of arrests on account of drunkenness rose 41 percent, and arrests for drunken driving increased 81 percent.

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Prohibition’s Failure In the 1920s, Al Capone was a name that inspired fear into the hearts of all of Chicago. His reign as crime boss over Chicago came because of a single government act. This act was the Eighteen Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, commonly known as Prohibition. The common goal for the law was that alcohol related crime would go down and the problems of drunks who did not take care of or provide for their families would be eradicated.

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