Prohibition, also known as the noble experiment in 1920, was a time in history when the United States government passed the 18th amendment. This amendment to the constitution banned the production selling or transportation of alcoholic beverages. This issue was not something that just appeared one day, it had been a long fought issue pushed by such groups as the anti-saloon league and the more prominent Woman's Christian Temperance union.
There were many different sides to the argument of prohibition some people and lesser known groups thought that tolerance was the best way to fight against alcoholism, and others thought that the complete outlawing of alcohol was the only way to stop the problems that alcohol caused. while the majority of people did not care about any sort of restrictions on alcohol and they were usually out spoken, the prohibitionists were known to make their views know and to make claims that alcohol was evil.
Supporters of prohibition used all of their power to change peoples view on alcohol.The groups such as the Woman's Christian Temperance union and the anti-saloon league when to great lengths to try to cover up the use of alcohol by historical figures. In one instance supporters of prohibition altered a photo so that George Washington was not holing a glass of whine while he celebrated his generals. Other instances of supporters of prohibition altering historical documents is when they changed stories in the bible to not include alcohol. this was important to the prohibitionist movement because they were telling people that drinking alcohol was a sin. There were also rumors started that having a high blood alcohol level could make people spontaneously catch on fire. Some supporters of prohibition were known for poisoning some batches of bootlegged liquor killing most of those who drank it.
Prohibitionists thought that getting rid of alcohol would solve all the problems such as crime impoverishment, increase the health of America, gambling, and all around what they believed to be sin. This belief that all crime was caused by alcohol even made a few towns sell their jails thinking they would not need them any more. This was not the case, crime evolved into organized crime because of prohibition. People like the gangster Al Capone rose to power in this time on the opportunity to sell and transport alcohol illegally. Since it was actually not illegal to drink alcohol in this time there were many people willing to drink illegal alcohol. Another thing that came out of prohibition were the speakeasies, which were secret bars that sold alcohol. These places were even worse then bars and saloons before prohibition.
Prohibition also had a negative effect on the economy by shutting down the brewing industry and the saloon industry putting many people and businesses out of work. prohibition also had a major effect on the government. The US government lost around 11 billion dollars in tax from alcohol during prohibition. The US government also spent about 300 million dollars on enforcing prohibition.
During the span of prohibition the amount of alcohol that the average person drank a year was only halved. During this time many people still continued to drink alcohol, the best way that prohibition hurt alcohol was because the price increased so it was more expensive to buy. Prohibition was considered a major failure and was repealed by the 21st amendment after only 11 years of being in use.
