Source A and Source B struggle to agree on the causes of prohibition. I can, however see one similarity. This similarity is emphasised far more in Source B than A. It is that alcohol is evil and saloons were a bad influence on the men of America.

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James FAIRBOURN        History Coursework        Page  of

        Prohibition

  1. Source A and Source B struggle to agree on the causes of prohibition. I can, however see one similarity. This similarity is emphasised far more in Source B than A. It is that alcohol is evil and saloons were a bad influence on the men of America. This is the only explanation given by Source B. Whereas Source A gives us many. Both sources seem to agree that Prohibition should have been introduced.  However, they do have two different points of view on alcohol.

Source A, taken from an American History book, published in 1973, sends out the impression that alcohol was a bad thing, however it was not as bad as everyone is making it out to be. The main feeling in Source A is that it was not patriotic to drink alcohol. There was still a very strong feeling against the Germans in America at this time. Apart from this and the bad influence of saloons, Source A struggles to supply any other logical reasons why the law should have been passed. Source A is very quick to point out the complete failures of prohibition.

Source B, also taken from a book abut American history, published in 1979, does not give any real reasons why Prohibition was passed as a law. It however is strongly against alcohol. It starts by saying that alcohol was ‘evil.’ Source B, mainly explains how the law came to be passed and does not give any reasons for why it should have been passed. Source B also points out that Prohibition caused a major criminal surge turning the avoidance of the law into an extremely violent business.

Both sources agree that Alcohol is evil and were in favour of Prohibition.

  1. The artists of Sources C and D are strongly for Prohibition and against saloons. Both posters involve money and the way men wasted the money on alcohol. Source C has two parts to it. The first part pictures a man buying some alcohol from a saloon. He is handing the bar tender a bag marked, ‘Weeks Wages.’ There is a smaller picture in the bottom right hand corner showing a woman crying and a child holding his empty food bowl up as if asking where his food was. Above this scene it is said that the saloon keeps its members and their families always poor. At the top of the poster it says ‘The Poor Man’s Club, the most expensive club in the world.’ This poster is saying that women and children are suffering because all the men are spending all the families’ money alcohol. Source D has much the same message. This pictures two young children, one older than the other. The older holding the younger child’s hand. They are standing outside the entrance to a saloon. Both look quite upset and are certainly not over dressed. Above this picture it says, ‘Daddy’s in There--- And our shoes and stockings and food are in the saloon too, and they’ll never come out.’ This, I feel carries a stronger message and typifies a woman’s view towards alcohol in those days. It was evil and wasted a family’s valuable money. Here, the older child is saying that the money that was being spent by her father in the saloon was meant to by their food, shoes and stockings. However it was all being given to saloon and would never come out. The saloon was never going to give it back and they were to remain poor.
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Both artists are saying that Prohibition was good. The message is that the families of the men who were addicted to the saloon were the ones who suffered.

  1. Both Source E and Source F are talking about Prohibition. However, both sources are saying very different things about prohibition. Both sources are for prohibition, however are written at completely different times. Source E is written when prohibition has finished and is reflecting back on what prohibition actually achieved. Source F, however is written at the start of prohibition, in 1920, looking ...

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