A Synthesis Essay: The Role Of Prohibition In The United States

This is when congress ratified the 18th Amendment. The banning of Alcohol was thought to be a solution to most problems but made them worse. The effects

The Effects of Prohibition in the American Society Prohibition in America was considered the war on alcohol. Prohibition happened from 1920 to 1933. People wanted to cut out alcohol altogether to try and better the United States. Prohibition leaders believed that once a businesses liquor license was taken away it would make people change their mind on drinking. Leaders had thought that the European Immigrants had brought their drinking problems across seas with them.

He felt this is what his country had become as a result of prohibition and had no other option than to write about it. F. Scott Fitzgerald like many writers, felt America was getting too rambunctious, F. Scott Fitzgerald and other famous writers left the country for a while to get away and write about what they had saw and experienced. Prohibition is what made this book even possible to be written. In the Great Gatsby we are taken on a

They ended up choosing the latter. The ASL and WCTU claimed that people who drank a lot could suddenly burn to death from inside of their bodies; or that if you inhaled alcohol vapors it would cause defects in the next three of your generations, and many more unscientific claims. Also, since temperance movements claimed that drinking alcohol was sinful, the church insisted that Jesus drank grape juice instead of wine. Temperance activists went even as far as to hire a scholar to rewrite the Bible, removing all references to alcohol. The Ku Klux Klan

A lot of people did not agree with prohibition and still wanted a way to get alcohol. Prohibition started because alcoholism and domestic violence was at a high and by getting rid of alcohol Congress thought domestic violence, bar fights and things of that nature would go away. Gangsters came to power because people needed a way to get alcohol and gangsters had it. But with the rise of gangsters came the rise of organized crime, which was just as bad if not worse than when people could freely get alcohol. One quote that explains how organized crime became more and more in power, “In Chicago a bare six months of prohibition has raised the total of crime, figured for the entire year, more than 25 per cent.

“Thus came prohibition to the United States. Middle-class Americans—striving to revitalize and preserve American democracy and to usher in a new era of humanity, achievement, and progress—turned to prohibition as one device to achieve their goals.” (Callow) The Prohibition was a time where in the United States the sale and consumption of alcohol was illegal from 1920-1933. It was the 18th amendment which prohibited alcohol in the United States and it states, “The manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.” (The United States Constitution) The Prohibition happened to occur during the Progressive Era where morals were valued, the was a rise in feminist and humanitarian movements, and there was action to dissolve corruption in business

On January 16th of 1919, the American congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment, making all importing, exporting, transporting, selling, and manufacturing of alcohol illegal. It was not until 1920 that the Amendment was enforced. During the era of progressive reform, 1900-1919 it took much convincing to get congress to pass the Amendment. You have a majority of the population against prohibition because saloons were a social hangout for them where they hosted parties, weddings, etc. Then you have the rest of the population for prohibition because of economic, religious, and health reasons.

Al Capone During the 1920’s the government was cracking down on the distribution of alcohol, they thought that banning alcohol would reduce crime rates, unfortunately the opposite. Men like Al Capone rose to power and sold alcohol, even though it was banned. Al Capone and many others like him started participating in organized crime. In the process of Al Capone rising to power he made allies and enemies. Al Capone was historically significant, because his childhood highly affected his actions as an adult.

The eleven Italians were murdered due to the stereotypes that all Italians are mobsters. Even though in the film Vito Andolini becomes the head of the mafia years later, many Italian immigrants were met with discrimination and negative stereotypes. The negative prejudice associated with Italians alike “viewed them as having dangerous social tendencies, especially criminality” (Alba 67). All of these stereotypes made its presence in the Film “The Godfather Part II,” through violence and lack of respect for human life. Through historical events, such as the death of President McKinley by an anarchist in 1901, many immigrants were met with prejudice.

This group endorsed politicians who supported banning alcohol, and organized state reform to try to ban alcohol. From 1900 -1917 almost half of the United States voted to go “dry” (Fagnilli 29). As saloons closed to cure society’s problems, immigrant tempers arose (Danzer 514). The effort to improve morale in the United States during the Progressive Movement proved to be a failure due to the fact that immigrants would be unhappy if the states went “dry,” and prohibitionist would be unhappy if the country did not become “dry.” While promoting moral improvement proved to be a failure, many efforts were made to reform the economics in the United