Kayla Junge 1st hour 1-3-14 U.S. history Prohibition Prohibition is the period in U.S.

history that the consumption and sale of liquor was banned by law. The 18th amendment was put into place to help reduce the amount of crime, save tax money, and to increase the hygiene in America. This later proved to be a mistake and did not fix the problems it was intended to fix. Towards the beginning of the 20th century there was a temperance organization in almost every state. These organizations were built to encourage a healthy amount of alcoholic beverages or none at all. By around 1916 most states had laws against the consumption of alcohol. In 1919 the 18th amendment, which bans the manufacture of alcohol, was ratified and put into place January 6, 1920. The results of this clearly show that it was a failure on all counts. The crime didnt decrease as excepted, instead, it increased. This law also did not stop the consumption of intoxicating beverages; it only pushed the action into the shadows. Gangsters would hire men to smuggle rum in from the Caribbean or bring alcohol across the American Canadian border. With all of this alcohol they would set up a secret bar where people could come and drink as they pleased. Speakeasies were now all over the country. When the police found out about these locations they would hire agents to come and shut down the business. The agents werent always paid very well and could most likely be bribed into keeping it a secret.

One of the ways that you could drink and it be legal was to have is prescribed to you by a doctor. This became one of the most common ways people would get alcohol. Doctors started to prescribe thousands of patients with the treatment of alcohol when the prescription was not needed. If they gave you a prescription for liquor then you could legally buy it from a pharmacy. However, there was a limit on how much liquor they could give you. If you got a prescription for beer, there was no such limit. The secret drinking was not the only problem that the 18th amendment brought upon the community, the violence and crime rate also increased tremendously. During the first few days after the law was passed there were thousands of robberies throughout the United States. Many local liquor stores were wiped clean and small breweries were taken over by gangs. The crime was not only become more common they were getting smarter. The acts of violence was now organized so that made them all the more dangerous. Since liquor was no longer available, the public turned to gangsters and bootlegging to supply them with liquor. Many people became involved in this business. This industry was becoming so profitable and competitive it resulted in an enormous amount of deaths each year. Prohibition was proving to be very difficult for the people to abide by and did not eliminate the social issues that it was intended to reduce. The government was finally starting to realize that this amendment was a mistake and in the long run would continue to do more harm than good. To reverse this, the 21st amendment was put into place revoking what the 18th amendment stated. This makes the 18th amendment the only amendment that was ever repealed.

Works Cited

"18th and 21st Amendments." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2014. "Melnick Medical Museum." Melnick Medical Museum. N.p., 7 Apr. 2010. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. Meredith, William A. "Organized Crime and Prohibition." Organized Crime and Prohibition. The University at Albany, 29 Apr. 2012. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. Okrent, Daniel. "Prohibition: Speakeasies, Loopholes And Politics." NPR. NPR, 10 June 2011. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. "Table of Contents | Temperance & Prohibition." Table of Contents | Temperance & Prohibition. The Department of History, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.