Prohibition Effects On Society

Before Jefferson entered the presidential office he was a states rights supporter and when the tax on whiskey was placed he opposed it, saying “The first error was to admit it by the Constitution.” (Doc A). He didn’t like the constitution because of the fact that it would make central government stronger. When the alien act was passed he was opposed to it and said that the central government should only have a set of specific purposes and the leftover purposes should be left to the states individually. (Doc B) Determining the amount of time it takes to be a citizen, and the ability to jail people opposing the government was too much power to Jefferson. When he came into office he realized the necessity for more central power and took more matters into his own hands, he had become a loose constructionist.

When does the government have the right to legislate morality? Prohibition taught the American government the negative consequences of controlling what people do or how they act and showed what happens when the government tries to legislate morality. The 18th amendment, which was also known as the Prohibition, prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol (George, Robert P). The 18th amendment was passed on January 16, 1919, but did not go into effect until January 16, 1920 (Hoyt, Alai). This started the Prohibition Era in America (Hoyt, Alai).

The outcome of this war affected America’s foreign policies, economy, and society as a whole. The first important effect the war of 1812 had was the way it changed foreign policy for America. One of the major problems before the war, was the way Britain forced neutral nations trade to go through British authorities first. Not only that but they’d take American seamen and force them into the British navy. This whole ordeal caused great upset in America and cause them to put up a bill that stated they would cut off trade with either Britain or France if the other dropped their trade restrictions.

Several factors prompted this decline such as: several economic problems, the rise of other trade routes, the European hunger for expansion, and weakness in the Ottoman government Furthermore, the Ottoman Empire was both politically and militarily strong, yet, it was too traditional and could not keep up with worldwide changes and modernity through time. Europe and the West were rapidly moving forward innovatively while the Ottomans stayed in their place for too long. All these problems led to the empire being less centralized in Europe. Simply, the Great Powers of Europe took advantage of this situation and allied to completely end the rule of Ottomans. To further affect the empire, European powers chose an Ottoman strength and turned it into a weak point.

Most of the levied taxes and implemented laws are believed that they were unconstitutional and that Great Britain did not consider their opinions. As the tension between the British and the American colonists grows, the colonists become more fearful of the British’s rule. According to document five, the British has a huge advantage over the colonists because it states that they have the authority to make laws that the colonists must abide by at all costs. The colonists believe that there are only two choices to defend them - the colonists- from the enormous power: “choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated [British officials], or resistance by force” (Document five). According to document four, the colonists were that they will become slaves to the British.

On October 28, 1919, Congress, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, passed the Volstead Act, more popularly called the National Prohibition Act. This act established the banning or prohibition of: selling, producing and distributing alcoholic products. This act put thousands out on the streets and angered millions of Americans. But as Americans, the citizens joined together and managed to discover a bypass for this newly established law. Bootlegging was the given name for this detour.

In 1920 the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S constitution, which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors. State and Federal had a hard time enforcing Prohibition. Despite very early signs of success, including a decline in arrests for drunkenness and a reported 30 percent drop in alcohol consumption, those who wanted to keep drinking found ever-more inventive ways to do it. Prohibition, failing fully to enforce sobriety and costing billions, rapidly lost popular support in the early 1930s. In 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was passed and ratified, ending national Prohibition.

When the 18th amendment took effect many Americans were not happy. Even though prohibition was in place that did not stop people from getting alcohol. Bootleggers and gangsters became a big problem for society, along with many other things. The Prohibition movement began in the wake of a revival of protestantism that viewed alcohol as sinful. As the law passed liquor stores began to close and poor Americans became poorer.

The first of these setbacks was the failure of the Prohibition. Though initially successful, the nationwide movement of abstinence from alcohol ultimately failed when the Eighteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, was later repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933. Additionally, the labor unions that formed and were strong advocates of progressivism harbored harsh xenophobic and anti-foreign sentiments against immigrants for being strikebreakers and blamed them for harsh conditions and low wages. These feelings ultimately led to the passage of many isolationist and frankly un-American laws, such as the Immigration Act of 1924, which discriminately curbed immigration in America by limiting quotas of foreign countries to a tiny percentage. Most heinously, however, from the Progressive Era was the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan, a violent, racist, anti-foreigner, extremist paramilitary group that terrorized and tortured many innocent people.

In America, nationalism is being justified by the current leadership by pointing to the failures of this multicultural European system. Thus, multiculturalism will never be effectively implemented over Americanism due to fear of that failure that is evident in so many other countries that have attempted to celebrate

By 1932, Americans had reversed the approval and disapproval making the disapproval rating had gone higher. Americans disapproved the prohibition because the criminality and murder went up, business’ were going down and it was impossible to enforce no alcohol. The rate of criminals went up leading to more murders when the Prohibition was enforced. Many criminals such as gangsters, racketeers, bootleggers, and dope sellers got “helped” out by prohibition. Especially in the Great Depression, were alcohol was even more wanted.

Page 119- “New England’s rum distillers led the opposition to the new rules by helping to organize a boycott of imports from Britain.” Response - In this passage, New England had distilling due to the rum’s popularity in the colonies since there were only a few choices of alcoholic beverages. Of course, Britain was not pleased with this, which resulted in trade wars with New England and America. The trade relationships between these countries were not as good and it became worse. This started the American revolution because of the dispute of trading. Journal #9.

Just think, no wine.no beer,no whiskey. This is prohibition. The leaders of the prohibition movement were alarmed at the drinking behavior of Americans.The law was ratified by the Federal and state government In January,1919.Prohibition in the United States was a measure designed to reduce drinking by eliminating the businesses that manufactured, distributed, and sold alcoholic beverages. The Eighteenth Amendment (prohibition law) to the United States Constitution took away license to do business from the brewers, distillers, vintners, and the wholesale and retail sellers of alcoholic beverages.Prohibition was also given the nickname as “The Scofflaw.”The Scofflaw, One who habitually violates laws, especially laws that does not involve serious criminal offenses.America repealed Prohibition for three reasons.The various reasons include,economics,crime and concerns over enforcement ,and respect for the law. One purpose why proscription was overturned was because,economics.”If the liquor now sold by bootleggers was legally sold, regulated and taxed, the (tax) income would pay interest on the entire local and national (debt) and leave more than two-hundred-million dollars” (Doc E,Leslie Gordon “The New

This angered the Americans and is one of many reasons why the war began. According to the textbook, legislators passed the Embargo act in 1807, stopping the shipment of goods to other ports. In the end this did not work because

He then raised taxes on cars he believed took up too much gasoline to power them. Another thing Jimmy Carter could have done better at but did not do such a good job at was international policies while he was in office. New threats from the middle east and the cold war nations made Jimmy Carter give things to those nations that would end up hurting the United States. When he put in place his Carter Doctrine which would not allow the U.S.S.R to expand he did it without looking at the future. This policy is to blame when it comes to most of the problems of the Middle East today.