When And Why Prohibition Was Passed Essay

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A. When and why Prohibition was passed ? The ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which banned the production, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages introduced the country into the historical period known as Prohibition. The law was seen to be a cure for the perceived problems in society. Since the colonial period, consumption of alcohol had been so disputatious that whether or not it should be religiously considered as a sin. By the turn of the nineteenth century to the twentieth century as Americans began to drink more and more, led by the Anti-Saloon League (established in 1893) and the evangelical Protestants, the temperance movement viewed the saloon culture as corrupt, ungodly, and …show more content…
Many people said Prohibition could be considered as “A Colossal Failure,” especially when it came to violent organized crime, “bootlegging,” and “speakeasy.” For instance, Chicago’s Al “Scarface” Capone, a successful organized crime figure, was profiting from bootlegging business through increasingly violent methods. Also the old-time saloon died out, public drinking lost much of its macho connotation, resulting in increased social acceptance of women’s new willingness to drink in public or in the semi-public environment of the speakeasy (Blocker Jr 6). Nevertheless, it took a long time after repeal before consumption rates climbed up to their pre-prohibition levels, which in this case prohibition “did really work” (Why Prohibition). For example in 1910, annual per capita consumption stood at 2.6 gallons; in 1934, the figure was less than a gallon (Faragher et al. 672). Also the production of alcohol had declined as a result of Prohibition. In 1916, there were 1300 breweries producing full-strength beers in the United States; 10 years later there were none (Blocker Jr 4). The number of liquor wholesalers was cut by 96% and the number of legal retailers by 90%