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How Successful Was Prohibition Dbq

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Prohibition: Failures and Success By Jayden A. Mendoza "Prohibition only drives drunkenness behind doors and into dark places, and does not cure it or even diminish it." (Mark Twain). This quote perfectly encapsulates the impact and outcome of prohibition, and why it was bound to fail. Prohibition was not only a period of crime and homicide, but an experiment to see how Americans would respond to drastic change. Prohibition was a failure due to how difficult it was to enforce, illegal activity was on the rise, and that it was untaxable. 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. Easy and illegal beer and liquor, which was an obvious problem for prohibition. …show more content…

As shown in Document B, homicides per 100,000 peaked at 10 and while prohibition was nearing its end and continued to fall until the second World War. Homicide rates today are at around 6.5 per 100,000! (Macrotrends.net). When you illegalize something, you bring up its price exponentially, which is where the Mafias found their business. Corruption was rampant and it was, mostly, because of

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