Prohibition In The 1920s

The 1920’s was an interesting time in American history. This era was also known as the roaring twenties. Although it is remembered as a fond time before the Great Depression there was also a lot of conflicts arising, Cultural conflicts in particular were at the center. Prohibition and Immigration were two of the main cultural conflicts during this time period.

As Americans, the citizens of the United States take a deep pride in our freedoms of a democracy. Throughout the history of this great nation, the inhabitants of the United States of America have taken to arms, protested and revolted against enemies; and even each other. One such paramount of history that sets the United States of America apart from that of other countries are the documents known as the Constitution of the United States of America. The aforementioned documents are the backbone of American law and justice; both ensuring a law by which all citizens are bound to, as well as, ensuring the freedoms of those same citizens. With regards to social issues that portray a side of both that pro and con, a singular amendment comes to mind:

Temporary fun with lifelong consequences; alcohol. In 1919 the 18th amendment was ratified, this amendment declared it illegal to manufacture, transport and sell alcoholic beverages. America repealed Prohibition due to the crime rate increasing, failure of enforcement and no money being made off of alcohol.

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.

Alcohol was immensely important to immigrants that came to the United States from Europe in the 1600’s. A few centuries later, specifically 1917, many Americans believed that alcohol consumption was a problem. An eighteenth amendment was assembled and passed by congress which banned production, transport, and marketing of alcohol. Even a drink consisting of over 1 percent alcohol was considered an alcoholic beverage. America was officially a “dry” country. 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 an amendment that caused the ban of alcohol and anything related to it. America was suffering because of alcohol, so prohibition was enforced. Little did the country know, prohibition would cause America to suffer far more. America was facing various problems due to alcohol such as death, crime, and loss of money. America expected to solve these problems by banning alcohol; never did the country expect the problems to worsen. 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.

"The 'Jazz Age' was a period of many political, economic and social changes when Americans cast aside old social conventions in favor of new ideas, embracing the rapid cultural and social changes of modernism and the flamboyant lifestyles of the new era" (The Jazz Age). Throughout the 1920’s, "America was taking its final steps from the traditional period to a new era of modernization" (American Culture in the 1920's). American popular culture decided to transform itself into an urban, industrial, consumer-oriented society. The future was envisioned to be successful, looking upon positive, everlasting change; embracing the future and its fore coming traditions and ethics. New ideas,

As the roaring twenties reached their end the battle against alcohol in the United States is just arising to a turning point. With serious controversy over the Volstead Act the country was greatly divided. There was also the extreme rising occurrences of crime, the creation of gangs and a newly established, unorganized criminal justice system. Prohibition was a disaster across America and the more reforment from the government just made things worse.

Document J shows a short article written by Mabel Willebrandt that states that people loved it so much that even the people that made the law were breaking it. Alcohol was a very common drink for senators and congressmen. The University of Albany wrote that since you couldn't drink out in the public, people were forced to drink at home. This led to children being heavily influenced by illegal activity such as drinking illegally manufactured alcohol. A letter from Mrs. Hillyer to the authorities showed that people were actually using their money for alcohol instead of their necessities. For example a man was using his money to buy whiskey every other day rather than paying for his bills. This led to his angry and worried wife to send a letter to the

1) What were the challenges to attempted enforcement of Prohibition? How were they similar/different to the general challenges of law enforcement at the time?

On January 16, 1920, America went dry. Along with the ratification of the 18th amendment on that day, the Prohibition Era of the United States began and lasted for 14 years long. The prohibition amendment ruled that the manufacture, transportation, imports, exports and sale of intoxicating liquor for beverage purposes were all restricted or considered illegal. This unprecedented degree of government interference in the private lives of Americans brought irrevocable impact to the country since alcohol was one of the most significant pastimes in human history. However, its promotion was utterly loud in the society back to the 1920s, supporters were those who believed in absolute morality and those who would benefit from the absence of drinks.

The 1920s was a boom time for the American people. This is a well known fact, but behind this time is the politics that made it all possible. Politics is an important staple of the American lifestyle usually boiling down to either loving or hating it. The 1920s, while not only an extremely socially active period, was also a period of political change and Importance. The 1920s was one of the most politically diverse eras in U.S. history, from Prohibition to the prosperity of the Coolidge era. From the slow beginnings to the booming end, the full political diversity of the roaring 20s will be observed.

It was the age of grand parties, prohibition, and illegal activities. After World War I, the idea of “living in the moment” was adapted by people in the 1920s. The era was run by bootleggers and gangsters who supplied the parties with a good time. After the end of the war, veterans and flappers gave rise to an era that sought carefree and entertaining times; unfortunately, that coincided with illegality. Gangsterism, the habit of using organized crime to get one’s way, was the dangerous method that effectively supplied parties with the edge that many sought at the time. With new laws passed on outlawing alcohol, people had to find ways to illegally get the pleasures that they wanted. The government believed that by outlawing the sale and supply

The 1920s was a time of entrepreneurship, big spending, and partying. At the heart of these parties was the popular 1920s activity of drinking, Which was threatened by prohibition. The law of prohibition came into effect on January 16, 1920 and was intended to end drinking and drunkenness. However this policy backfired and sent the American alcohol industry into black market functions. Prohibition is found throughout the novel, “The Great Gatsby”, especially in the life of the character Jay Gatsby.

From reading Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City by Michael Lerner, I discovered a thorough account of prohibition in New York City. Michael Lerner made a convincing case that as we consider popular depictions of the “Roaring Twenties,” we are likely to find entertainment to the governmental attempts that tried to keep America from drinking. Prohibition defined how much the government might try to reform its citizens, and it defined the politics of the times. There is no understanding, for instance, how New Yorker, Franklin D. Roosevelt became president without taking prohibition into account. Lerner’s book, a well referenced and compellingly written account of a national mistake, fittingly concentrates on New York, for Prohibition failed there in a spectacular fashion because of the cultural makeup of the city, and its attitude toward being told what to do.