Prohibition Essay, Research Paper

The 18th amendment: prohibition

Prohibition is the banning of alcohol. Yes, at one time this was a law in our country had been banned from alcohol. But alcohol is so popular it was repealed. But before I explain about the repeal lets explain the creation and ratification.

The article was first proposed to the people on 1917. After two years of talking it over finally something happened. The article was finally ratified, by all of the 48 states at the time. On January 16, of 1919 the United States prohibited all manufacturing, transportation, sale, importation into the United States and exportation in the United States of alcohol. The laws were strict on this amendment. All states had concurrent power to enforce this law by appropriate legislation. The only way the article could be repealed is if another amendment changed the law and ratified to the constitution by many states but it had to be at least seven years from the date the prohibition act was ratified.

But there was something about the use of alcohol that was legal. The only way any person would be able to sold or used was for medical purposes or industrial usage. The people of the United States did not agree with this idea. They decided to do something about this act and take matters into their own hands.

The government had ratified this article because too many people were drinking. They had caused more deaths, and trouble for a lot of people. The government had thought that alcohol was destroying the moral fabric of the United States of America. Many people, although mostly people who drank, thought it was raising the fabric not destroying it. They thought it gave people freedom, fun, and their rights. For a while this prohibition had helped the United States but eventually a new generation came along. So the revenge broke out.

These people had been considered to be corrupt by the society outside of their own one. People secretly drank, had many different love affairs, and disobeyed the law tremendously. All of these young people wanted to have lots of fun and they didn t care how they did it. The government became furious.

This act gave no rights to the citizens of drinking. But to the non-alcoholics it gave many different rights and freedoms. The people that did not drink in the United States had safer homes, and safer life, and overall a better life before the outburst of drinkers. Then it went back to its hold habits of people drinking tremendous amounts of alcohol at a time but in more secrecy.

It did not take long for people to begin their protest. Less than one hour after prohibition took effect six gunmen hijacked a train in Chicago and stole over $100,000 worth of whiskey that was marked for medicinal use.

The society of drinkers grew larger and larger by the day. With many suppliers, all of the United States was being secretly supplied with alcohol. Most of the suppliers became very rich and influential selling alcohol. This raised the numbers of organized crime in America. This became worse once another issue was brought to hand.

In the early 1930 s the Great Depression of the United States began. People had complained that prohibition of alcohol was a main factor for this depression. People had testified that the prohibition had taken away a lot of jobs from the people of the United States and money from the government. At this time people did not have much money or jobs.

Finally, the prohibition act was over. Prohibition was repealed with the 21st Amendment on December 13, 1993, much to the joy of many Americans. It was repealed for two reasons – one, people had decided that the negative aspects out weighed the positive, and two, the country was entering the Great Depression, so it was thought that producing and selling alcohol would create more jobs and help boost the economy.

Although bootlegging became a thing of the past, other methods such as extortion, money laundering, and racketeering continued and became more popular. The 18th Amendment was the only Constitutional Amendment ever repealed. At the time, people were happy and relieved that politicians listened to them. That was the end of prohibition in the United States.

My opinion on prohibition is quite insignificant. Although, alcohol is a very high cause of death it gives people freedom and rights. You must never take away a person s rights or freedom because it is something we all cherish. That is what our United States is built on and it would make no sense if we did differently.