Which of these two sources is the more reliable as evidence about Prohibition?

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c) Study sources E and F.

Which of these two sources is the more reliable as evidence about                                                          Prohibition?

December 5 1933 marked the end of Prohibition for the United States. Utah was the last state to pass the 21st Amendment, which cancelled out the 18th Amendment which prohibited the distilling or brewing of liquor.

Source E was written by John D. Rockefeller Jr, an extremely wealthy oil merchant in the 20th century. Source E is a letter that he wrote in 1932, at the end of prohibition. Rockefeller had been one of the main supporters of prohibition; he was a member of the anti-saloon league and was a strong Christian. He would also have supported prohibition because he owned his own business and so would have had to deal with his employees having time off work or even being unfit to work because of the effects that the alcohol had on them which meant he would have lost money because he wouldn’t have so many workers working when he needed them. This source is however a letter and we don’t know whether it is a personal letter or a business letter, therefore there could be bias. In his letter he is looking back on what has happened and may have forgotten some of the events that occurred during this time.

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However, this source is quite reliable because it is backed up by other sources, although he says that he initially supported prohibition and “hoped it would be widely supported”. H also talks about the consequences of prohibition saying that “drinking has generally increased” which is backed up by sources G which show statistics such as “Gallons of spirits seized” which rose from 414,000 in 1921 to 11,860.000 1929.  Or source H which shows statistics such as “Number of people drunk” which rose from 14,313 in 1920 to 51,361 in 1925. He also says “crime has increased to a level never seen before” which ...

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