The Effects Of Prohibition In America

What if the most important thing in your life, something you could not live without, was taken away from you in a matter of seconds? Would you do anything in your power to get it back, no matter what it takes? This is the same situation the whole United States population suffered through from January 17th, 1920 at midnight, until December 5th, 1933. The reason for this is called Prohibition. Ever since the earliest colonization stages began in 1630, liquor, gin and any other types of alcoholic beverages they could get their hands on hypnotized America. The alcoholic haze spreading over America affected saloonkeepers, clergy members, and every other civilian living during this time period, including underage teens. After many years with alcoholism

After Prohibition was ratified and put into effect, most Americans were enraged and were not going to let this stop them from doing what they loved. This caused, what started as a small business, to boom and provide people with the ability to be able to continue the making/drinking of alcohol, while making a large profit as well. This Business is called Bootlegging. It is the illegal making of any type of alcoholic beverages and selling it to people who are willing to pay large amounts for it. A few months into Prohibition, more and more people began learning how to brew their own alcohol, which led to many jobs being provided and lots of money for bootleggers. Edward Behr states in Prohibition: 13 years that changed America, “Twenty months after Prohibition became effective, the Internal Revenue Bureau, as it was the called, reckoned that bootlegging had become a one billion dollar business… Americans consumed 25 million gallons of illegal liquor in 1920 (147)…” Bootlegging became such a thing that people became famous for committing a crime and most of the police would not attempt to fix this problem. Prohibition resulted in people all across the nation becoming desperate, which made them willing to break the law in order to receive their ‘most prized

Many people feel that this goal was achieved, but many others disagree and think the opposite. When this law was first talked about, it seemed unrealistic because of how much drinking had been going on. As soon as the new law was put into action, Americans were so angered that the government was preventing them from drinking alcohol, so their willingness to break the law skyrocketed. People robbed stores, killed innocent bystanders, began bootlegging, and this was all in an attempt to rebel against Prohibition. It states on page 361 of the article “Homicide in Chicago from 1890 to 1930”, “The homicide rate in Chicago rose significantly after Prohibition came into force… The total homicide rate in Chicago rose during Prohibition by 21% (Asbridge).” The amount of percentage may seem low, but when dealing with the lives of innocent people, it is extraordinarily large. This situation relates back to the corruption of police officers because in an article about organized crime in America, it describes the fact that when crimes were committed and people were killed, the officers and politicians were largely focused on the bribes they were offered to look the other way (Woodiwiss 8). More and more dead gangsters were on the streets because of competition between bootlegging gangs and there was no one stopping this. Organized crime was often used during