Prohibition

A detailed Summary of Prohibition

Why was Prohibition introduced in the USA in 1919?

On the Midnight of January 16, 1920, one of the more favorable and common habits of the American people came to a halt. The 18th Amendment was put into effect and all importing, exporting, selling and manufacturing of, 'intoxicating liquor' was put to an end. Strangely enough it was not illegal to buy or drink liquor.

Shortly after this act was passed, the National Prohibition act, or the Volstead act, as it was known because of it's writer Andrew J Volstead, was put into effect. This stated that 'intoxicating liquor' was classed as anything over 0.5% alcoholic content. The Volstead act also set the penalties for breaking the 18th Amendment. This act did not include alcohol used for medicinal purposes.

The ban on alcohol was not introduced suddenly. The Anti-saloon league (ASL) were the most famous supporters of prohibition and had been campaigning against alcohol for many years. The ASL was founded in 1893 and was soon led by a broker called Wayne Wheeler. The ASL were actually making an impact and in 1908, 5 separate states had gone 'dry' (dry meaning alcohol was illegal to sell).

The ASL were not the only supporters of Prohibition the Women's Christian Tempera

The general public of America agreed with prohibition for a few reasons. The first of these is that Germans were associated with beer making and after the First World War great hostility was directed at Germany. People felt that as Germans brewed a lot of beer it must be a dirty and evil substance. Another reason is that workers and businessmen knew that if they did not drink, as much alcohol, then productivity would increase. To the labourers prohibition could mean more pay and more money saved.

How did Prohibition change US society in the 1920's?

The Government provided a force of prohibition agents (as mentioned earlier), which in 1920 numbered 2836 and in 1930 only numbered 2836. This was nowhere near enough to patrol the whole Nation of America. The agent's salaries in 1920 were within $1200 - $2000 and in 1930 the salaries were still very low within $2300 - $2800. Men employed at such a low wage were very unlikely to resist bribes and corruption.

Gangsters were usually careful to avoid hurting members of the public, for example when the O'Banion gang went to Machine gun Capone's Headquarters, in eight cars, the first car fired blanks to scare away any innocent civilians.

nce Union also believed that alcohol was evil, ungodly and against all Christian teachings. Most prohibition supporters generally believed that a ban on alcohol would bring back the old traditional ways of America. These traditions were commonly seen as, hard work, saving money, respect for the family and respect for God. According to the ASL alcohol undermined these 'decent' values.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1294
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History