The End of Prohibition

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THE END OF PROHIBITION

In 1919 Prohibition was introduced to America. This was the law of banning Alcohol, which was thought to be the cause of many problems with America at the time. Unfortunately for the government American citizens did not agree with this law, and although it was illegal, they carried on with the consumption of alcohol. In this essay, I am going to explain how and why Prohibition ended.

One reason for the end of Prohibition came in the beginning- it was the problem of enforcing it in the first place. People who were actually in favour of Prohibition were mainly Christian groups and the "Anti-Saloon League". They were a minority, against the majority of America who were against this law, which made it even harder to enforce, as there weren't many "believers" of this new law. There was still easy access to alcohol. Only the USA had the law of the banning of alcohol but it was still legal in neighbouring countries such as Canada and Mexico, which was easy to get inside the US. Smugglers only had to worry about getting alcohol past the border-, which was very easy, as on a 20,000 kilometre coastline there was only 2,836 Prohibition agents which was not enough to enforce the ban. There was little co- operation from state police, as they also didn't support Prohibition. As no one was co- operating, obviously showed how unpopular Prohibition was, which was making it hard to enforce. This was a long-term reason, as not many liked or agreed with Prohibition from the beginning, to the time it ended. The longer the idea of Prohibition went on, the more it became a contradiction on itself. It had the opposite effect of a good city. Prohibition was brought in to stop America drinking and to be a "dry" nation, when really, it made no real difference to the nation of America being sober or not, but just created more "criminals" so to speak. Suddenly, people were now breaking the law for the possessing of alcohol, when they wouldn't have before this law came into place. Innocent people who were generally good citizens were now classed as lawbreakers for the possession of something minor as alcohol. Gangsters profited greatly from Prohibition.
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Gangsters became immense parts in supplying alcohol to people who wanted it. A reason for the end of Prohibition was the gangsters who profited from it. This was a long-term reason, which happened all the way through Prohibition. They were creating a corrupt system of bribery and crime in the cities of America. They made so much money from alcohol that they had enough to bribe or intimidate witnesses, mayors and even took control from state police, anyone who was in their way. Gangsters made a big impact on society. This bribery would make sure that the gangsters ...

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