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Rise Of Prohibition Essay

527 Words3 Pages

This paper will examine the rise and fall of the prohibition era. I chose this topic because the country defied the law and they didn’t care if it was a crime. The 18th Amendment was a nationwide ban of importation, production, transportation or sale of any alcoholic beverages. Did we really need the 18th Amendment? The 18th amendment was intended to stop the production and sale of alcohol, reduce crime in the streets, and build a better education for students.
One of the more peculiar spasms of the progressive reform movement was indeed the prohibition era. In this time prohibition had been mainly supported by avid church goers and various women. Prohibition was a new order that banned the importation, production, transportation or sale of any alcoholic beverages nationwide it was …show more content…

On January 17, 1920 the 18th amendment took effect and the people of American would only be able to own whatever alcoholic beverages they had in their homes the day before. (Okrent,1) There were those like Billy Sunday that welcomed the day. “The slums will soon be only a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corncribs.” (Okrent,2) Billy was entirely wrong on what the amendment would bring. The people were denied their liquor so they took matters into their own hands. Bootlegging or the illegal production of alcohol is what helped lead to the growth of American organized crime. It was a high complex crime compared to other types of criminal activity. Well organized gangs were soon able to control chains of bootlegging operations through illegal drinking spots or “speakeasies.” The earliest of bootleggers were able to smuggle foreign-made liquor into the United States from the Canadian to the Mexican borders. When that got to risky they had other ways to get their supply, over the counter “medicinal” whiskey was used as substitute until it was mixed

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