There are many contributing factors to why prohibition was introduced on 16 January 1920. The two factors that I have chosen to answer the question, how did they contribute to prohibition being passed as a law,

History Coursework

Prohibition

There are many contributing factors to why prohibition was introduced on 16 January 1920. The two factors that I have chosen to answer the question, how did they contribute to prohibition being passed as a law, are the Anti-Saloon League (ASL) and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). These both campaigned to try and get prohibition passed as a lawThe Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was formed in 1875 and was led by Frances Willard, but the movement of women to try and get prohibition passed as a law had started before this. It was Elizabeth Thompson who sat with friends outside the saloons of Kansas praying for the saloons to be closed down. This was the first ever women’s movement and at the time was not taken seriously.

Within two years after this the WCTU was founded and was led by Frances Willard. It was Frances Willard that first put pressure on politicians to try and get prohibition passed and saloons outlawed. She wrote thousands of letters to rally together woman that believed that prohibition should go ahead in the hope that this would increase her power, and give her the chance to get prohibition passed. The women who joined her were only volunteers, but they increased the overall power of the WCTU. Now that the WCTU had more power it put further pressure on the politicians, which made the politicians take notice of them. Frances Willard’s view was that the saloons were damaging to family life. She also said that the saloon was a place for men to go and discuss politics without the women having a chance to intervene. They saw this as discrimination and another reason for them to want to close down the saloons. They used this as one of their arguments to try and get the saloons to close down. They also said that women were the victims of drunken behaviour. It was often the case that women would be the subjects of beatings and violent behaviours towards their children. The WCTU also made the point that the women were being neglected because of the saloons. Their point was that the men would spend all of their hard-earned money in the saloons before they got home. These facts where told to the politicians by means of letters sent to them and rallies. The politicians now had to take notice of them and they couldn’t ignore the fact that prohibition was a popular law to be passed.

The WCTU also used the dangers of alcohol as another tactic to try and get the saloons closed down. They claimed that alcohol was damaging to health and said that by the men going to the saloons it was a risk for them, which in turn put stress on his family. The diseases that the WCTU blamed the alcohol for were gout, plasy, dropsy and epilepsy, but due to recent research it is now known that alcohol dose not cause these diseases but aggravates them. Another way that the WCTU contributed to the introduction of prohibition was to tell the people of America that their cultures were under threat. With the introduction of around 25 million immigrants, the WCTU said that prohibition would stop new cultures being brought in by the immigrants. They said that by introducing prohibition it would teach these new comers the American way and make them into better citizens. As soon as people heard this some believed that it was there duty to vote dry and support the prohibition movement by the WCTU. Men saw how voting for prohibition would mean that it would stop new cultures coming into America, and because of this, they voted for prohibition. This put even more pressure on the politicians and now some of them started to use prohibition as one of their promises if they got voted in.

The first state to go dry was Kansas and as soon as prohibition was passed in the state of Kansas there were noticeable differences. No alcohol was allowed to be transported or manufactured in this state. The tax was lowered in Kansas because there were fewer people in jail and crime had fallen a lot. Another way in which the WCTU helped to get prohibition passed was to teach younger people in public schools. These lessons taught courses that were compelled by the WCTU to teach the children that drinking was evil and very bad for you. This was another way to get people not drinking. The WCTU taught young children not to drink, and it worked. The WCTU tried to get prohibition passed as a law by using many different methods, on single effort that was seen as an embarrassment to the group was Carrie Nation. She said that she would smash up every single bar in Kansas with an axe. Carrie Nation carried this out after her husband had died of liquor.

The Protestant men of Ohio saw how well the WCTU worked and because of their own reasons they set up the Anti Saloon League, and it was formed officially in 1893. The principal concern of the ASL was the banning of all alcohol throughout other states, apart from that required by the medical profession. The ASL was run more like a business than protest, which was how WCTU was run like. A man called Wayne Wheeler did much of the campaigning behind the scenes. Wayne Wheeler was known as the Dry Boss and became one of the Americas most influential behind the scenes to try and get prohibition passed as a law. The ASL realised the power of the press and soon began using this to their advantage. The ASL gave politicians and other people with the power to change the laws money and manpower to help their cause to get voted in, for the return of them supporting prohibition. This worked very well and Wheeler lobbied clergymen and politicians alike.

The ASL got a lot of support for its campaign from the churches, which meant that prohibition could be preached in the churches and give the ASL more ways of telling people about prohibition. The ASL headquarters moved to Washington, which meant that they could put more pressure on the government of America. The ASL continued to give money and man power to politicians in return for the politicians voting dry. By giving candidates election money and workers for their campaigns they promised to vote for prohibition. This finally paid off and in 1912 another ...

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The ASL got a lot of support for its campaign from the churches, which meant that prohibition could be preached in the churches and give the ASL more ways of telling people about prohibition. The ASL headquarters moved to Washington, which meant that they could put more pressure on the government of America. The ASL continued to give money and man power to politicians in return for the politicians voting dry. By giving candidates election money and workers for their campaigns they promised to vote for prohibition. This finally paid off and in 1912 another 9 states went dry.

In 1913 the ASL put forward, at its jubilee convention, the notion that countrywide prohibition may be a distinct possibility. A constitutional amendment was put forward, and on the tenth of December the same year a congregation of over one thousand members met in Washington to show the public the sort of power and determination the ASL actually had. Next year in 1914 with the possibility that the USA could get involved in the war, the ASL saw this as a chance to say that the grain used in beer was needed for the soldiers. The majority of beer was being produced by German brewers set up by German immigrants, and with the excellent use of propaganda before it was easy for Wheeler and his associates to point the finger at the German brewers. The ASL made out that by drinking beer it was helping the German war effort and helping the enemy. The people of America saw this from the propaganda that the ASL had printed and start away stopped drinking their beer.

Many of the saloons where owned by the breweries and they both didn’t like what the ASL where saying. They hit back with protests, but these didn’t work as they didn’t work together and so the rallies couldn’t change anything. As the grain was seen as a much needed food source for the soldiers of America, brewers where seen as immoral and greedy in this time of war. Wheeler pushed prohibition still, and with the backing of Henry Ford that wanted prohibition to be passed for a more sober and efficient work force, there was little substantial competition. Ford threw money, power, and weight behind the push for a national ban, and on Jan 16th 1919 it was announced that prohibition would be effective. The 18th amendment was a success. This was a massive victory for the many organisations, some of which had been pushing for prohibition for thirty years.

The nation had now got what it wanted, many factors had helped this change to come about, the war, help of large companies, lack of a fight from brewers and distillers, and the feelings of the nation. Now the people had got what they wanted, but how long will it last and how long will people be able to survive without alcohol.

How did Prohibition effect American Society?

Much like alcohol being outlawed, prohibition effected many different groups of people when it was introduced. On January 16th 1920 liquor disappeared throughout America, which was seen as a big step to making America a better place for everybody. The idea of prohibition being introduced was to make the country a safer, purer, and morally higher country, but this wasn’t the outcome. The lust for alcohol became ever greater with each day going by. People were looking for new ways to get their hands on alcohol and some of the first sources where doctors and people in religious positions. Both of these people had access to alcohol and within the first year of prohibition the demand for alcohol from these kind of people rose by eight thousand gallons. Although doctors and people in religious positions were looked upon as moral citizens, it was the thrill of breaking prohibition and the large sums of money that drove them to commit crime of these sorts. Although the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol were outlawed, it was never illegal for a person to purchase or consume alcohol. This loophole was exploited and became a very big mistake in how the law was written.

After prohibition was introduced a large number of speakeasies cropped up. Theses speakeasies where used by both men and women and were seen as a much more pleasant place then saloons. Women found greater levels of freedom in speakeasies and were a loud to voice their opinions. Many of the frequented users of the speakeasies where women of the middle class, trend setters who saw it as being fashionable to drink. This was all a far cry from when women tried desperately to get prohibition passed as a law and close down all the saloons. Women were becoming more equal to men and where aloud to say what they want. The women who frequently used the speakeasies wore short skirts and danced to popular music, such as jazz music. These women where regarded by some people as being corrupt and immoral, which soon gave them the name flappers. By the end of the first year they’re where a massive five thousand speakeasies created in New York alone. Some of these where owned by women and became very popular with men and women.

It was not just woman who found that their lives had changed since prohibition was passed. Many of the women that where flaunting their sexuality and drinking in the speakeasies where from urban middle classes. Men from the same background also took part, and became trendsetters. They to took part in the dance crazes and gave large cities a vibrant and exciting image. It was also people from middle classes that made prohibition a part of an era that was for enjoyment and showing off.

In one case a lawyer in a small town that stood to become a wealthy man of his work turned to alcohol to make his money. George Remus was one to the richest men involved in the illegal trade. Within tree years Remus had amassed an astounding $40 million in assets. He had an illegal bottling plant disguised as a farm and it was from this that he made his fortune. By this time the demand was greater than the supply and the lust for alcohol was greater than ever. George Remus held huge parties and gave away cars, watches, and various other valuable gifts. The 20’s were a time of wealth, enjoyment and breaking the law. It was people from urban middle classes that enjoyed these times and was a lot different from before prohibition was introduced.

Prohibition was designed to make American morally higher, but this didn’t work at all. Prohibition made ordinary people support breaking the law and even if they where not breaking the law it was encouraging other people to do so. Before prohibition George Remus was an ordinary person, but because he found that there was more money to be made in breaking the law he turned to crime. Prohibition made ordinary people unhappy and many of them couldn’t help but come across some kind of criminal. Many ordinary people lost faith in the law and politicians because of the failure of prohibition. Many also lost jobs because of the closure of breweries and saloons. Prohibition had very bad effects on ordinary people and how they lived. Many ordinary people started turning to crime because of the large sums of money that could be earned. Nobody could now live by the law or support the law.

A decrease in crime was suppose to happen as soon as prohibition was passed as a law, but this was not the case and crime started to rise dramatically. Prohibition was the opportunity for many people to make large sums of money, and many took this up. George Remus was one example of this happening. Remus was once a highly ranked lawyer, but after turning to crime for he amassed $40 million in assets. Remus was paying off the local officials for them to keep quite, and although Remus was put to trial he never went to jail because he could easily afford to buy corrupt officials running the judicial system. As prohibition went on the level of crime rose and the smuggling operations by large gangs increased. An example of these smuggling operations is the trips made by a man called Bill McCoy. He to was an ordinary boat builder by trade, but turned to liquor running because of the large sums of money involved. McCoy stored his liquor on the small French Island of San Pierre. San Pierre soon grew very rich and alcohol was not illegal here. McCoy would load up his boats with mainly Rum and some European liquors and then lay in wait just out of the reach of the coastguard. Small boats would then come out to take the liquor to the shore. This was known as the Rum Row and could sometimes earn Bill McCoy up to $300,000 per trip. Many smaller gangs tried to imitate this, but nothing was as good as “the real McCoy”.

These larger, more organised gangs crushed smaller bootleggers and smugglers and put them out of business. Although there was a high risk in doing this, many gangsters and criminals were able to control governments, local councils and police through bribery. Before prohibition was introduced the number of criminals was a lot lower, but because of the opportunity to make large sums of money many people turned to crime. Also before prohibition was passed the amount of money that could be made being a criminal was much lower. It was prohibition that presented criminals with easy money to make. As the number of criminals increased so did the number of gangs. Theses gangs became rivals with one another and caused gang land violence. Within the first 5 years of prohibition 136 people where killed as a result of these feuds. A person dying because of crime was unheard of before prohibition. Also within the first 5 years there was only one conviction made. This was mainly due to the fact that criminals where bribing police and local officials. These police and local officials found it easier to turn a blind eye and accept money than do something about it. This is also something that is a lot different after prohibition was introduced. Police and local officials where highly respected people that never broke the law, but now prohibition had been passed they where becoming as bad as the criminals.

The introduction of prohibition lead to an increase of crime and although the police was trying to fight it, it didn’t work. This was mainly due to the fact that many of the law enforcers working where being controlled by the large organisations. You can see from this that prohibition had effected American society. The police was losing respect and ordinary people where being turned to crime.

The job of policing the whole of the USA was left to 1500 agents working for the Prohibition Bureau. They had little impact, and although many small time dealers where being stopped, it was estimated that for every one bottle of liquor ceased over one hundred where getting though. Not all agents where corrupt though, two of the most famous agents where Einstein and Smith. They worked together to try and close down one of the most famous speakeasy’s, the 21 club. It was estimated that there was thousands of dollars of liquor held in the underground cellars. Both Einstein and Smith entered the club in search of the cellars, but when they got in they found something very different. They found many distinguished officials in the club and they where soon arrested. These distinguished official found the frustrations of trying to uphold the law too great and became involved in the corruption; this was often the case.

It was clear that prohibition was having a massive effect on the people of America. Law enforcers $2000 a year wage was hardly an exceptional wage and this is another reason why it was impossible to enforce the law as the risks where high and the reward was very little. It was because the law enforcers couldn’t enforce the law that many people lost respect for them. This was very different from before prohibition was passed; it clearly shows that prohibition had a massive effect on the law enforcers. Before prohibition was passed, law enforcers had massive amounts of respect from everybody, and where classed as a force not to be reckoned with. Law enforcers where largely unsuccessful, which made the job very frustrating and difficult to do. When prohibition was introduced law enforcers found that they lost a lot of respect. This was very different from when law enforcers where highly respected. They lost this respect because they found that the job was very dangerous to do. It was easier to accept bribes rather than risking their lives to stop somebody doing it, and because they couldn’t enforce the law people lost a lot of respect for them. Also before prohibition the risk of doing a law enforcers job was a lot lower and the money they where being paid was the same. The frustration of being a law enforcers was also a lot lower before prohibition was introduced, and now that their work was largely unsuccessful, their job became more frustrating.

Although Al Capone was one of the most notorious gang leaders of all time he worked mainly behind the scenes, but he made millions out of prohibition and the law couldn’t do anything to stop him. The mayors and state officials weren’t working for the people any more, but for criminals.

Prohibition had a massive effect on everybody, and it was looking like prohibition was a bad idea. It caused many changes in the twenties and didn’t have the desired effects that people thought it would have. Some of the changes that it brought about were good, for example women could now drink along men and have their opinions heard. The majority of the changes that happened were bad and that would be the view from many people. The police lost all respect and were becoming as bad as the criminals. By the late twenties crime had increased dramatically and prohibition was the cause for this increase. Prohibition had a dramatic affect on everyone’s life, good or bad, but most people would say that prohibition didn’t work.

Prohibition failed only because of the following reasons:

Gangsters/Crime

Public Opinion

Do you agree? Explain your answer.

The statement above in my opinion is false. The two factors mentioned above did contributed to prohibition failing but their where also many other reasons why prohibition failed.

One of the reasons why prohibition failed, which was the earliest reason was that the law itself was flawed from the start. The reason for this is that it was not actually illegal to drink alcohol. This meant that people could get away with consuming alcohol. Another ways in which the law was flawed was that because of the share size of America it made it impossible to enforce it all over the country. This made it impossible for the police to enforce it. This intern made people disrespect the police and not care about breaking the law.

One of the main reasons why prohibition failed was because of the large amount of crime that was going on. At first this new found freedom was exciting and many people actively broke the law, but as the years went by, crime became more violent. Al Capone was very much liked at the start of prohibition. He soon earned the nickname of the benevolent city father, and he pumped lots of money into Chicago. His power kept increasing as his control over officials grew and grew. He paid for Mayor Bill Thompson’s electoral campaign and Thompson once elected did very little allowing Capone to control Chicago. Nobody mined this, as Chicago became more and more popular as new speakeasies cropped up. This was all well until the St Valentines Day massacres. It was this when the turning of public opinion happened. It was a dispute between rival gangs that resulted in 7 of Bugs Moran’s gang being murdered by Capone’s gang. This shattered public opinion and prohibition was now hated by nearly everyone. This was because at first the public loved how small time gangsters broke the law to bring them alcohol, but the public saw how brutal and violent gangsters has become. The public realised that people where being killed because of gangsters, and they soon realised that the gangsters had only been brought about because of prohibition. This is what shattered public opinion and they now wanted prohibition to be repealed. This was one of the reasons why prohibition failed, because of the high levels of crime public opinion of prohibition was lowered and so people started to vote for politicians that said they would repeal prohibition. This was one of the major factors why prohibition failed. It happened mainly because people where worried about the high levels of crime, and the St Valentines Day massacres was the breaking point, where many people realised that they would be better off without prohibition. Many other people wanted to change the prohibition law and have it repealed when the competition increased between rival gangs, which resulted in 136 gangland killings in the first 5 years of prohibition. Many people now wanted prohibition to be repealed because of the high risk factor, and the fact that there could be a chance that they could be hurt or even killed. The ineffectiveness of both local and federal agencies to deal with gangsters and those who broke the prohibition law added to the view that the country would be better off with out prohibition. This was because many people disapproved of the law as many people where getting killed and injured as a direct result of prohibition.

I believe that the main factor and that most of the other factors can be linked to be public opinion. This is because it was public opinion that politicians realised that they wouldn’t get any support if they supported prohibition. This made politicians support the repeal of prohibition that would help them get voted in. Public opinion was also lowered when many people realised that the alcohol that they where drinking was the cause and reason why many of them had serious illnesses. This was because the alcohol that the gangsters where making had all sorts of poisons and chemicals. The gangsters did this as these chemicals contained high amounts of alcohol within them. People realised that this wasn’t doing their health any good, and so they decided not to drink it. This lowered public opinion of gangsters and of prohibition. This made many people to start to support getting rid of prohibition, which led to some people joining anti-prohibition groups, and voting against prohibition. This lack public support for keeping prohibition made it a very difficult law to enforce, which made the government realise that the law was impossible to enforce.

Another reason why prohibition was repealed was because of the anti prohibition groups. This included the National Association against the Prohibition Amendment (NAAPA) and Women’s Organisation for National Prohibition Reform. These both tried very hard to get prohibition wiped out. The NAAPA had the backing of some powerful businessmen such as Du Pont. They also campaigned to politicians to try and get them to admit they where wrong. Politicians took note of this and the changing of public opinion, and they too changed their opinion. This helped prohibition to be outlawed. Du Pont and other large business realised that if alcohol was brought back then the government could put tax on that, rather than putting extra tax on their products. The government liked this idea and decided that they weren’t getting enough money from taxes, as they would like. They found this out from the campaigning of the NAAPA and large business. The government itself then realised that they liked the idea of having prohibition outlawed. The government also found out that they weren’t getting the support they needed to keep prohibition as a law. This lack of support was because of the changing public opinion, and this was because of the high levels of crime and violence that was brought about because of gangsters.

The depression was another reason where prohibition failed. The factor that started the depression was the Wall Street Crash. The resulting depression meant that people could no longer state that prohibition helped the prosperity of the nation. Many people began to see prohibition as the reason for the depression. This was because prohibition resulted in low employment in brewing and other related industries such as bottle factories. The depression helped to outlaw prohibition because it could lead an economic benefit, as it would create jobs, and lower taxes as money could be raised through alcohol. Public opinion and anti prohibition groups made the government realise this and so the government outlawed prohibition.

The repeal of prohibition started when Al Capone was jailed, which was a massive blow to the underworld of gangster crime. A political solution was needed and F.D Roosevelt the democrat nomination for the presidency made repeal an election issue. He saw it as an answer to reduce the effects of prohibition, as he could tax the alcohol and start to make money for the government that badly needed it because of the depression. F.D Roosevelt was elected and 73% of Americans that voted chose repeal. The law was then repealed and 8 states went wet, but it took although 36 years for the whole of America to become wet.

From the original statement I agree with the two factors being reasons why prohibition failed but I also believe that there are many other contributing factors that helped prohibition become outlawed.