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What Are The Pros And Cons Of The 1920's

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The Roaring Twenties was a time of glitz and glamour, but those were really just embellishments of what was actually a dark, twisted time in our nations history. The production of alcohol was illegal as of January 16, 1919. Although this was seen as the next step towards a more cultured and moral society, it actually did the exact opposite. Corruption and crime arose. Although it is true that substances such as alcohol can be abused, the prohibition of alcohol prevented the advancement of our society due to the corruption in public officials, negative effects on the economy, and increased crime rates.
Prohibition was a major event in American history. It showed the weaknesses of morale in the United States, and how much people loved alcohol. …show more content…

Bill Cooke wrote in the article “Sixty Years Before the Cocaine Cowboys, Miami was the Wild West of Prohibition”, “It didn’t take long for the public officials to get in on all the cash flowing from illegal rum casks.” Although it may have seemed that the government was actually trying to get rid of alcohol and bootleggers, they were participating in the booze smuggling just as much as the smugglers themselves. Violence also erupted in the American society. James Horace Alderman, a notorious Miami bootlegger, was hanged in a Coast Guard base located in Fort Lauderdale. The men who were serving to protect the country were harming the people whom they were …show more content…

First off, jobs are created because someone must make, transport, and distribute the alcohol. Also, due to the higher than normal sales taxes on alcohol, it had a great tax revenue for the federal government. It’s a win-win situation: the Feds get money, while the people have fun and get drunk out of their minds! Alcohol also positively affected the economy because it heavily depended on railroads, telegraphs, and mechanical refrigeration. (The Brewing Industry) Railroads are gaining profit because alcohol producing companies are paying them to distribute their product to stores. Telegraph companies are benefiting due to different companies interacting and negotiating with each other. Lastly, mechanical refrigeration units are not cheap, so if alcohol companies are buying the units, the makers of the refrigeration units are making huge profits. This complex flow of money helps the economy run smoothly. On the other hand, the prohibition of alcohol had a very negative affect on the economy. Distilleries were being shutdown due to the ban of production of alcohol. Railroads lost products to distribute, therefore, profit was lost. Stores where alcohol was sold had less product to sell, therefore, money was being lost. Since alcohol had a high tax, the tax revenue decreased tremendously, which caused more government spending. (Alcohol Prohibition) Lastly, since the Eighteenth Amendment was passed, the

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The effects of the Great Depression have been demonstrated in the statistics of the low employment rate and wage rate; however, the federal government had executed an act in which the wage rate is lowered for the purpose of maintaining the consistency of the employment rate. To undermine low rates of wages, the 21st amendment was ratified, which have to an extent of raising the rate of employment and wage. Furthermore, the federal government had issued a heavier tax on alcohol; thus, the taxation and the overturn of the prohibition of the manufacture, sales, and distribution of alcohol have lessened the situation that the individuals and US economy were facing during the Great Depression. Therefore, the Great Depression had a great extent of ratifying the 21st amendment, not for the concern of the devastating number of death tolls in regards to

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Firstly, the majority of the American do not think of the consumption of alcohol as a bad thing, instead, they see it as an enjoyable thing to do, therefore, people start breaking the law by drinking alcohol. Also, the consumption of alcohol is legal if you have a prescription, thus, the doctor will prescribe patient who was alcoholic with four liters of alcohol every week so that they could be legally drunk, and as a result, the total sales for medical alcohol went up to 400% during the prohibition. Meanwhile, a portion of Americans even made their own alcohol instead of buying it, which they called it “moonshine”. Secondly, the existence of the 18th amendment led to the growth of crime rate in America, as it helped the secret societies, gangsters, and speakeasies became popular among the public, they became the main supply of alcohol in American which helps them made a tremendous amount of money. Even the formal American President - Warren G. Harding, whom initially voted against the banning of alcoholic beverages and later voted for the 18th amendment, he himself would drink and play poker in the white house.

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”Why did America change its mind on prohibition”? One main reason is because of it’s impact on law abiding citizens, another, is the effect of prohibition on people in government positions, and final is its’ influence on America’s economy.

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1920’s DBQ The 1920’s were a period of tension between the traditionalists and modernists. The tension between these two groups was aroused by the economical advancements, social developments, and cultural changes in the 1920s. These tensions were manifested by the economic outburst and the passing of certain laws.

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Prohibition got rid of saloons, many well known restaurants and clubs. It was not even enforced by the people who started this but the starters would be hypocritical putting a law for no consumption of liquor but they were drinking it themselves. Officers and others of the federal government were bribed. The worst of all the murder rates went up mostly because of the criminals and their gang

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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 country was trying to control America’s alcohol problems by law. The ban on alcohol worsened America’s alcohol problem, in fact, it did quite the opposite of its intention. All caused by prohibition, America had an increased crime rate, death rate, and to top it off, America was losing slathers of money.

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Subsequently, the nation realized prohibition was not working and things began downfall. America began to change its mind, repealing the amendment because prohibition was unenforceable, nobody wants it, and legalizing alcohol would benefit our economy. Prohibition was nearly impossible to enforce, and people usually got away with breaking the law. “Smuggling from Mexico and Canada has been successful on a large scale because it is utterly impossible to patrol the thousands of miles of border..”(Haskin 1923)

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In the article “Capone, Al” by Benson, Sonia, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine it states, “Prohibition gave rise to organized crime in America. Prior to the 1920s, gangsters operated independently, often in ethnic enclaves, but Prohibition created a national market for illegal liquor. By the mid-1920s, organized crime was a highly structured, well-organized enterprise, and gangsters had become national figures. Gangsters such as Al Capone in Chicago and Lucky Luciano in New York City became powerful kingpins of organized crime, with vast empires built on bootlegging, gambling, and other illegal activities.” Prior to Prohibition, gangsters operated independently, but during the 1920s, they became highly structured and well-organized enterprises.

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This ban helped improve the workers lives because they did not have to spend money they did not necessarily have on drinking. Additionally, this law improved women’s lives because they did not have to worry about drunk husbands who are not contributing to the family. Moreover, the prohibition lowered the crime rate and created a better family structure. Nevertheless, certain places sold alcohol secretly. For instance, in document F two chickens represents the Republican and Democratic parties, and both are fighting over the prohibition concept.

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A problem with prohibition was the jobs it took away, “The act also banned liquor advertising, and the use or sale of anything that might lead to its manufacture,” (Smith 133). Also, vehicles that were once used for the transportation of alcohol were to be seized or destroyed. So, people whose lives once revolved around the profits from alcohol were left with nothing. The rise of bootlegging soon began. In the early times of Prohibition, citizens did whatever they could to get around the laws, and lawmakers underestimated the lengths people would go to obtain alcohol.

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The prohibition outlawed alcohol to try and diminish the crime rate. This led to a higher consumption of alcohol and illicit speakeasies. As fast as the police closed down one venue, more would spring up in its place (Prohibition in the United States). Government intrusion with the Volstead Act of 1919 outlawed beverages over 0.5 alcohol volume

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Additionally, during Prohibition, 32,000 speakeasies, illegal liquor-serving nightclubs, replaced 15000 pubs. Illegal liquor trade became a $3.5 billion industry as of 1926 and gangs of bootleggers were formed. In 1929, Al Capone’s gang shot seven members of their rival gang. This event, known as the St. Valentine’s Massacre, increased competition for control of the market. Evidently, the laws of Prohibition were disregarded and protested by many.

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Prohibition led to the rise of organized crime and failed as a policy due to many loopholes and large numbers of corrupt officials. Though started with good intentions it was not a good policy because it destroyed jobs and attempted to destroy an industry. These reasons lead to Prohibition’s failure and the repealing of the 18th Amendment in

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Prohibition was a period of 13 years in U.S. history in which the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor was made illegal from 1920 to 1933. It was known as the “Noble Experiment” and led to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. There were many reasons for why prohibition was introduced, one was that a ban on alcohol would practically boost supplies of important grains such as barley. Another was, when America entered the war in 1917, the national mood turned against drinking alcohol.

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