Favor Of Prohibition And The 18th Amendment example essay topic

America's great folly, prohibition, went into effect January 16, 1920, and was finally repealed December 5, 1933, leaving everyone in America, most notably those in which it was designed to help undeniably changed forever. The effects of the 18th Amendment negatively influenced all that it affected, even those who passed it as a law, and was, without a doubt, one of the biggest downfalls in American history. Arguably the single most influential group of immigrants to come into the United States in the latter half of the 19th century came from Germany - entailing over eight million immigrants in total (Behr, 63). As a result, the German culture and industriousness put an indelible stamp on the areas they settled into, and transformed American drinking habits (63). After many years of protesting and petitioning, the supporters of prohibition found success in the Volstead Act - passed in 1919 - signaling the beginning of the 18th Amendment (Wenburn, 8). The Volstead Act stated that: "No person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or process intoxicating liquor except as authorized in this act".

(Kavieff, 37) Soon after the Volstead Act - January 16, 1920 - prohibition is passed as a law (Behr, Back Cover). The signing of the 18th Amendment did not achieve its intended goals, however, but instead only added to the problem in which it was put in place to solve (Bowen, 1). And even after prohibition was instated, liquor flowed freely into dry-states and counties from across their borders, usually by mail. Dealers in these states would use ads to solicit orders (Severn, 96).

Even those who tried to enforce prohibition were stuck with a fundamental conflict of personal rights (96). The enforcement of prohibition brand up questions of rights including: security of persons, homes and effects against unreasonable search and seizure, speedy and impartial trial and a heritage of other basic liberties which many felt that enforcement of the 18th Amendment might violate (97). During this time, around twenty-five million gallons of alcohol are illegally consumed (Behr, Back Cover). As such, the flaws of the hastily adopted 18th Amendment soon became apparent after its ratification (Severn, 96). The law only punished the seller, and the threat of putting him in jail meant nothing to the buyer who could obtain liquor guilt-free, because prohibition contained no clause against the purchase of alcohol (96).

Despite this new wave of prohibition, Americans were drinking more than ever (86). The first political attempt at passing the prohibition Amendment was by Senator William Kenyon of Iowa and North Carolina's Representative, Edwin Webb. The two placed before congress a bill to give states, rather than federal, government control over liquor shipped across boundaries (Wenburn, 126). Mississippi became the first state to ratify the 18th Amendment on January 8, 1918, and by January 1919, thirty-four other states had approved of it as well (Severn, 96). Two years and eight days later, on January 16, 1920, the Nebraska legislature almost unanimously voted on its approval, and with three-fourths of the states on board, ratification was complete and the 18th Amendment was added to the Constitution (96). To some extent, alcohol prohibition had originally gained the support of large employers because they assumed it would increase the worker discipline and productivity and reduce social problems (Kavieff, 208).

Prohibition was not, however, a public health campaign, but in fact, prohibitionists were utopian moralists, believing that eliminating the legal manufacture and sell of alcoholic drink would solve the major social and economic problems of American society (Bowen, 194). One of these so-called "utopian moralists", John Kramer, entered office as the first Prohibition Commissioner in 1923 (Severn, 126). With the stern belief that it was "the will of the American people to see the nation become bone-dry", Kramer outwardly professed his task as Commissioner would be easy (126). In the late 1920's and early 1930's, the Depression played a crucial role in undermining elite support for prohibition as well (Kavieff, 207).

However, even though middle-class Americans had been the strongest supporters of prohibition, once they had begun to become the richest of their class in the world, many wanted to imitate the fads and fashions of the wealthy, including the consumption of alcohol (Severn, 134). On the opposite front, however, critics against prohibition were steadily growing. Educators deplored its effectiveness on the nation's youth; as it caused them to do nothing other than want to drink more than ever (157). Some lawyers felt that it had placed a great burden on the courts, so much so that it was threatening the entire legal system (158).

As such, some judged and juries were reluctant to impose the harsh penalties. Fines averaged as little as five or ten dollars, and seldom exceeded one hundred dollars (Clark, 129). Many wealthy people were, too, against prohibition as it caused the United States to lose nearly half of a million dollars per year, which the government made up through the rising of income taxes (Severn, 158). Some also claimed the dry movement was a front for racial and religious bigotry and resented the active interference of churches in political affairs (Bowen, 156).

Public opposition to the 18th Amendment began even before the passing of the Volstead Act - especially amongst labor unions - but organized opposition remained small and fragmented until 1926 (Clark, 128). A total of over six years from the start of prohibition before any strongly organized demands were made for the outright repeal of the 18th Amendment (129). Women, including those of which had once been for the movement, began to organize and rally against prohibition (Severn, 159). These new reformers, unlike the hymn-singing women whom had once led the dry crusaders, reflected the age of feminine independence (159). A crushing blow then came for those in favor of prohibition and the 18th Amendment when the socially prominent wife of a New York banker, Mrs. Charles H. Sabine, called together a group of sixteen friends in 1929 to form the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (159). Mrs. Sabine resigned her position as the first woman member of the Republican National Committee to head the newly formed group, which quickly attracted other prominent women to local leadership across the country (159).

Within three years, the W.O.N.P.R. had gained more than one million female members (Clark, 259). In 1929, Mrs. Sabine wrote an article which was featured in the June 8 issue of Outlook Magazine, stating: "I was one of the women who favored prohibition when I first heard it discussed in the abstract, but now I am convinced it has proved a failure". (Coffey, 230) Soon after the W.O.N.P.R. began gaining heavy support, Mrs. Sabine blatantly attacked many dry organizations of the time, such as the dry women of America, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the Law Enforcement League because they had claimed that they spoke for the women of America (231). Soon after organized opposition to prohibition began in 1926, the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment took over the campaign for repeal (Clark, 229). Headed by Pierre Dupont and other powerful corporate leaders, the A.A.P.A. gathered increasing number of wealthy and prominent supporters, including many former prohibitionists (229). Although it would have most certainly been repealed eventually, the A.A.P.A. unquestionably accelerated the process of repealing the 18th Amendment (230).

Shortly before being removed forever, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made "real beer" exempt from the 18th Amendment, signaling the end of American Prohibition (209). The effects of prohibition were readily apparent no matter where one looked. With prohibition, America had set itself up for a wild drinking spree that lasted thirteen years, five months and nine days (Behr, 91). The penalties set in place for being caught drinking were both a hefty fine of one thousand dollars and up to six months in jail for first-time offenders alone (Coffey, 4). However, people still flagrantly drank and violated the law, purchasing and consuming even more alcohol during the prohibition era than ever before (Clark, 167). Prohibition's early days brought about mostly amateur bootleggers who supplied liquor to their friends as a source of part-time income (Severn, 135).

A little later, before the mobs and gangsters began heavily participating in it, bootlegging also became a profitable sideling for some housewives (135). The effects of prohibition on American households were also easily noticeable as well. Arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct increased by forty-one percent during prohibition, while arrests for drunk driving increased by almost eighty-one percent (Wenburn, 187). Not surprisingly, the sale of medicinal alcohol increased by a staggering four hundred percent between 1923 and 1931 (187). During this time, around five thousand "speakeasies" emerged in the United States as well, supplying even more liquor to the general public than ever before (Behr, Back Cover). Because of these emerging "speakeasies", and the ease of obtaining liquor in a time in which it was forbidden, women who had never before joined their men in public drinking flocked to the bars once prohibition came into effect (Severn, 134).

The adults were not the only one's who participated in this drinking spree, however, as the youth also rebelled. For some of them, drinking forbidden liquor was an act of bravado that seemed "romantic and adventurous" (135). The mothers and father who drank the outlawed substance had a hard time convincing their sons and daughters that "only parents should evade prohibition" (134). For many, though, the fun of drinking during prohibition became too much, as an estimated fifty thousand people died from alcohol poisoning (Behr, Back Cover). In 1930, Maryland Senator Millard Tidings estimated that approximately one thousand three hundred and sixty-five innocent people were killed in attempts to enforce the law by police intruding on property without a warrant and by being hit by stray bullets during various gun chases (Severn, 133).

But just as World War One had played a crucial role in providing the necessary context for rallying popular support to pass prohibition, the Great Depression provided the necessary context for its repeal (Kavieff, 207). Finally, by December of 1933, Utah became the last necessary state to ratify the 21st Amendment - the repeal of prohibition - and on December 5, alcohol was once again legal in America (6). It can be arguably stated that prohibition should not have gone on for the thirteen years that it was allowed to damage society, if at all (269). Likewise, prohibition was not only ineffective, but it was also damaging to the people and society it was meant to help (Clark, 197). The problems that the 18th Amendment intended to solve, such as crime, grew worse and never actually returned to their pre-prohibition levels (197). Also being highly in favor of prohibition after immediately its ratification, twelve years after it went into effect, most Americans were ready to admit that it had been a failure (Severn, 7).

It was noted about prohibition that "the results of the experiment {prohibition} are clear... organized crime grew into an empire; ... disrespect for the law grew; and the per capita consumption of the prohibition substance - alcohol - increased dramatically (Kavieff, 267). And after its repeal, one of the most consistent critics of the prohibition era, H.L. Mencken of the Baltimore Sun, wrote: "Prohibition went into effect January 16, 1920, and blew up at last December 5, 1933 - an elapsed time of twelve years, ten month and nineteen days. It seemed almost a geologic epoch while it was going 'on, and the human suffering that it entailed must have been a match for that of the Black Death or Thirty Years War". (Behr, 238).

In conclusion, prohibition not only harmed everyone that it meant to help, but it became the leading cause for the dramatic increase of crime rates in the 1920's and early 1930's, proving that not only was it a great failure, but that alcohol prohibition was the worst act to ever be placed into effect, and certainly was the worst Amendment to the Constitution. This was more for a term theme than an essay alone, but if you need to use it, then just take off the notations.