For why prohibition was introduced, these two sources both talk about how the Anti-Saloon league played a major role in leading the protests against alcohol. The sources agree on how the Anti-Saloon league had a hefty influence on how the public viewed the situation. The two sources talk about the mass amount of grain that was used in brewing or distilling, they say that instead of using that grain for food.
Source A and B have some different ideas for why prohibition was introduced, although they agree some major actions were taken for prohibition during 1917, they state two different events. In source A they stated that in twenty three states had banned alcohol and said that the most important reason for prohibition was that moral passion was inspired by the “War to Make the World Safe for Democracy”. In source B a nationwide campaign, led by the Anti-Saloon League, brought pressure to bear on congress to ban the use of Grain for either distilling or brewing.
In Source A it said that by 1917, twenty seven states had already introduced a ban on alcohol. The reason that not all the states were enforcing the rule of prohibition was that different states had different laws, so unless the constitution said that it was necessary to have a general rule for Prohibition all over America the different states could choose to have the rule or not. Even though not all the states had prohibition, the large portion of the states in total did and this could have been a pressure for the other states to have prohibition introduced.
In source B a nationwide campaign, led by the Anti-Saloon League, brought pressure to bear on congress to ban the use of grain for either distilling or brewing. This reminds us of the points brought up by Source A that the Anti-Saloon League played a major part in the propaganda for prohibition towards the public which was very successful and gained a lot of support to try and put an immense amount of pressure on congress and causing them to ban alcohol in general for America. In 1917 they succeeded partly by getting congress to out rule the fuse of grain for either distilling or brewing. This was a great blow to the brewing industry.
Some other explanations that were mentioned in Source A on why the ban of alcohol was introduced included the bad influence of saloons, the wartime concern for preserving grain for food, feelings against the German-Americans who where important in brewing and distilling, and the influence of the Anti-Saloon League at a time when large numbers of men were absent in the armed forces. The main reason however was the moral fervor inspired by the “War to Make the World Safe for Democracy”. This is saying that war was needed in order for democracy, the public people to be herd. This is also saying that they saw alcohol as a threat to democracy because of the misconduct of innocent people.
In support of what effects of prohibition had, both sources talk about how prohibition had produced the largest criminal boom in history. In Source B Capone said “Prohibition is a business, all I do is supply the demand.” This shows that prohibition was not working and a lot of people were made criminals from what use to be a perfectly normal thing. In Source A it says that there is no query in that Prohibition was the basis of why there was a largest criminal boom in history.
In Source B it said that the Anti-Saloon League put a lot of pressure on Congress and 1500 agents were appointed to assist in prohibition. It also mentions that the anti-saloon league encouraged their supporters for an amendment to the constitution of the USA. In 1919 the amendment was passed and the manufacture, sale and transportation of liquor were banned. There is another point where it mentions that except for the anti-saloon League was not the only organization that was against the use of alcohol but there were several other groups that were against it such as the women’s Christian Temperance Union who described Alcoholism as one of the great evils of the time.
As a result of Prohibition the amount of speakeasies increased through out the time of Prohibition. Even though Source B said that there were 1500 Prohibition agents were appointed to try and help ban alcohol and still the result of this attempt to stamp out the use of alcohol was that by 1928 there were more than 30, 000 “speakeasies” in New York alone. This shows that the amount of alcohol that was being used was still out of hand when prohibition had been introduced for about eight years.
There are a lot of different points of view on this but the general idea of how prohibition started was similar in both sources. The idea of organizations, Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-saloon League being the two main ones who influenced the public to see the evils of alcohol and who put a lot of pressure on Congress. The image of the outcome of Prohibition was similar in both sources. The sources showed that the use of alcohol was seen as a threat to democracy and should be banned. They both say that after prohibition was introduced, there was a large criminal boom ever in history consequently of prohibition. This law had not worked because the law had gone against the daily customs, desires and habits of so many citizens of America.
