The Consequences Of Alcohol Prohibition Law In 1920

The prohibition of the sale and production of alcohol during that time was successful, as they made the world safe from hypocrisy and violence towards society. The consequences of the progressive reform movement led to this prohibition of alcohol consumption in the United States. Therefore, it was proposed against prostitution, corruption, public drunkenness and crime. However, this law was especially popular in the South and West regions. Although the Old-World lifestyle was based on drinking freely in beer halls both in the open air and in taverns, some Americans agreed with the ban and demanded that it be maintained. Although this brought problems because the federal authorities never imposed a law in which people who lived in the country could change their minds overnight, so the citizens never thought that the consumption and sale of alcohol it was a crime against humanity. In the United States in the 19th century, a social movement known as Temperance or Temperance Movement was carried out; This movement was understood as the moderation of the consumption of alcoholic beverages. However, this movement extended from the moderation of food to the total prohibition of alcohol consumption until finally it was known as a condemnation of everything related to alcohol, including the prohibition of production, trafficking and sale of these products towards the American society considering itself illegal. Its prohibition was not sufficiently accepted by the people, so it continued to be illegally produced and imported into neighbouring countries. Due to its high demand and its sky-high prices, this law caused major crimes to develop, attracting important criminal gangs such as the famous leader Al Capone and many other leaders known as part of the Mafia, thus earning millions of dollars in trafficking and trade of it, in addition to the corruption of officials and politicians who were required to comply with this law.

The clandestine merchants and distributors had several ways of obtaining the alcohol they were: being introduced through smuggling, stealing legally manufactured liquor such as whiskey for medical consumption and doing it themselves or paying others to do so. Although most alcoholic products came from islands such as Bahamas or Jamaica, it was believed that almost all were rum. Because of this, merchant sailors such as the famous captain Bill McCoy illegally transported alcohol to the interior of the United States, literally called rumrunners. In spite of this, throughout the same century, the different religious institutions, including their Protestant leaders, along with their popular masses in the country, insisted that this law should be maintained because the church sought to eliminate all types of sin in the country. The world as the abolition of slavery, so they saw an opportunity to promote the abolition of vice towards alcoholic beverages. However, this law allowed these drinks to be used for medicinal purposes, religious use or for chemical procedures making the Catholic Church connect effectively with this movement. However, in the country, he suggested an increase in immigration by putting religious leaders in contact with large populations of foreigners who did not share the same opinion or the same lifestyle as against the restriction of consumption of illegal liquors. Within these immigrants were nationalities such as Irish, Germans and even Eastern Europe, bringing traditions and customs more tolerant to everything related to the consumption of these; while preachers with a more conservative mentality insisted that newcomers to the country should maintain an opinion contrary to the free consumption of these beverages that harm the health of each of these immigrants. On the other hand, the women who existed in that one century became familiar with the prohibition and accepted the law due to the different abuses and mistreatments received by their drunken and unknowing spouses. This public thought on the part of women tried that the only reason why their husbands were violent and cruel was the consumption of alcohol without control.

However, the writer Catherine Murdock, always stated that alcohol was a small way out of all the problems that were around society and therefore this law was enacted so that people could deal with their problems having morals to stop drinking and to be able to achieve a perfect society in the eyes of the government. In spite of this, the women were not appreciated or accepted in the different societies that were in favor of this movement so they voluntarily organized and created their own associations against the consumption of alcohol like the Woman Christian Temperance Union. Their participation in these public affairs led to the emergence of the feminist movement for universal suffrage. In the same way, being led with pacific hands by Frances Willer. After that, an activist named Carrie Nation commented that after the separation with her second husband because of the consumption of liquor, she brutally destroyed a famous bar with an axe, making the axe become a public symbol towards the fight against excessive consumption of alcohol. The movement caused by the prohibition of alcohol consumption presented advances in civil equality and even highlighted the importance of voluntary association and the participation of women in it. His rapid success, in general, showed a highly developed society with progressive ideals and objectives at the end of that century. The prohibition aimed to build a new society and politics away from urban violence although its effect was the opposite. On the other hand, the young emigrants, due to the political machinery of the different associations, saw the law as an opportunity to be able to exercise in the business of manufacturing and the illegal traffic of alcohol, showing the depth of the corruption of the political system that this movement had caused. Although it was a very organized movement, it did not have the capacity to control the population and caused that due to social changes such as the great customs brought by foreigners, other national struggles and policies arose towards the black minority, women and even European ethnic minorities. After this century, people realized that it was not the solution to that problem, assuming that the remedy was worse than the problem because the consumption of alcohol not only subsisted but also continued in a clandestine and low control of gangs; making this law, instead of solving crime, bring more violent and dangerous crimes to the population of the United States.