...18th and 21st Amendments : The 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919 to forbid the making, transporting and selling of alcoholic beverages. In the 1830s, it was estimated that the average American of over 15 years of age drank 7.3 gallons of pure alcohol a year. This resulted in many religious groups promoting the idea of outlawing alcohol throughout the nation. The religious groups considered alcohol and the drunkenness as a threat to the nation. The prohibition of alcohol was known as the Noble Experiment. People believed the national experiment would reduce crime activity, improve health, decrease the need for prisons, solve social problems, etc. Unfortunately, the experiment backfired. Instead, the law encouraged large, pervasive...
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...banned alcohol. World War 1 also supported for temperance it seemed unpatriotic to use corn, wheat and barley to make alcohol when soldiers overseas needed bread. In 1919 the states then ratified the Eighteenth Amendment to the constitution, which was the banning of alcoholic beverages. It forbade the manufacture, distribution and sale of alcohol anywhere in the United States. This amendment had been passed largely on the strength of rural votes. Then congress passed the Volstead Act a law that officially enforced the amendment. People that said the ban of alcohol was the right thing were advocates of prohibition. They were called “dry’s”. They said it improved individuals; strengthen families and then society on a whole. It was also that liver disease and so forth declined during this prohibition. The “wets” also known as the opponents of prohibition countered that the ban of alcohol did not stop people from drinking. They said prohibition created hypocrisy and increased organized crime. The Volstead act did not stop Americans from drinking but it did stop them from buying it legally. So instead people made homemade alcohol or smuggled it in from other countries. Bootleggers sold illegal alcohol to consumers. In different cities they were secret establishments known as speakies , attracted eager customers for alcohol. The government tried their best to stop illegal alcohol but it got too out of control, the demand for alcohol was too great, and there weren’t enough policemen...
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...“Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes crimes out of things that are not crimes” said by Abraham Lincoln. (patheos.com) “One vigorous clash between small-town and big-town and big city Americans began. In January 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect. This amendment launched the era known as Prohibition, during which the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages were legally prohibited”. (The Americans) Prohibition had both positive and negative effects in the 1920’s. Prohibition had a number of successes. For example, “wife beating and lack of family support decreased 82%, drunkenness decreased 55.3%, assault decreased 53.1%, vagrancy decreased 52.8%, disorderly conduct decreased 51.5%, delinquency decreased 50.0%”. (prohibitionists.org) Inmates in jails and crime rates lessened as well. “The number of inmates in jails and prisons decreased 75% ; and many correctional institutions were closed entirely. The national crime rate (excluding Chicago) declined 38% ; in Chicago, the crime rate declined 25% (despite some well-publicized criminal events)”. (prohibitionists.org). In Prohibition, there were a lot more positive aspects. “General domestic complaints decreased by two-thirds”. (prohibitionists.org) There were positives in the local areas in the 1920s during Prohibition as well. “Attendance at churches and schools became more regular, county hospital death rates were historically low, real estate...
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...Throughout the decades, we suffer through individual cultural challenges. About 95 years ago, the conflicts America experienced had a lot do with new developments. These were revisions such as prohibitions, immigration conflicts, and differences in beliefs. Prohibitions that involved alcohol was in effect. Women had new roles, which was more of an advancement than a challenge. The Scopes Trial was also significant in the 1920s, which was in relation to the theory of evolution. Although, as time progresses, we still face cultural challenges to this this present day. During the 1920s, a majority of the people in America believed that alcohol devoted to society’s corruption and immoralities. Therefore, individuals and/or groups began to work in unions to outlaw alcohol. Religious groups and conservatives especially favored the liquor ban due to their beliefs. With this reasoning, they characterized immigrants as alcoholics to favor their cause. Therefore, a great number of states passed the anti-alcohol law. Although in the other hand, people that were against this liquor ban somewhat compromised with the law. They started smuggling alcohol, which followed to being a criminal empire inclusive of gangsters. New opportunities were finally achievable for women in the 1920s. Women were finally allowed to do most jobs that were already possible for men. The 19th Amendment was also passed, allowing women to finally vote and run for office. Although they were compensated less money for...
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