Reasons Leading Up To Prohibition In The 1920's

Prohibition began with the regime created in 1919 by the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act. The 18th Amendment banned the manufacture, distribution or sale of intoxicating liquor and The Volstead Act enforced the amendment. Although the amendment banned the manufacture, distribution and sale of alcohol, it did not prohibit use or production of alcohol for personal consumption. By putting a ban on the sale of alcohol, this opened up many doors, especially for Al Capone and the mafia. Prohibition became effective January 1920, the reasons leading up to prohibition were reasons such as the national mood turning against drinking alcohol as they felt that it was destroying the nation, practical reasons, religious reasons and moral reasons.

During Prohibition, many Americans refused to give their support to Prohibition and were willing to drink in speakeasies, newspapers stated that as many as eight out of ten congressmen drank secretly in speakeasies , which proved even more how Prohibition had failed as it was unable to control people, no matter how high up they were. Gangsters such as Al Capone made money from Prohibition and organised crime as Prohibition increased the demand for alcohol and people were desperate to get it. “Protection rackets, organised crime and gangland murders were more common during Prohibition than when alcohol could be bought legally.” Prohibition led to America having a huge uprising of crime due to it creating a higher public demand for the illegal liquor. Gang leaders such as Al Capone and Bugs Moran fought for the control of speakeasies in Chicago. Although Capone made claims that he was a businessman only, more than 500 “gangland murders” took place between the time period between 1927 and 1930. $2,000 million

The biggest problem that was faced by the law makers was the complete disregard of the law; even law enforcement officers as well as politicians violated the prohibition laws. The President of the United States, Warren Harding, was even said to serve alcohol at private parties, whilst publically supporting prohibition. The problem with bootlegging was that not everyone was as diligent regarding the purity of the products, in order to make profits, bootleggers would use any form of alcohol, even alcohol that was undrinkable with additives such as methanol. The poor suffered the most from these practices as it was cheap compared to the good quality