The Role Of Prohibition In The 1920's

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The Upside of Prohibition It is a very widespread acceptance that the Prohibition of the 1920’s was an enormous failure that had many undesirable effects on America. After all, the 18th amendment, which declared the sale, transport, and purchase of alcohol illegal, is the only constitutional amendment to ever be repealed. However, the repeal of this amendment does not indicated that it meant that Prohibition was a failure. While it may seem like a failure from a government stand point, socially it is what can be considered a success. There were many Americans in support of Prohibition during the early 1900’s. One chief influential group were the woman and children who were dealing with abusive, alcoholic husbands and fathers on a daily basis. Women did not have as much freedom back then as they do now and therefor were unable to do anything about the alcohol related abuse that their children and they received. During that time period, divorce was not much of an option for women. Prohibition was their only hope for a better life. Other groups such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League were also founded in order to support Prohibition. These groups would support any candidate, regardless of political…show more content…
However, it was very successful socially. The intentions of Prohibition were not to make alcohol consumption illegal. After all, the consumption of alcohol itself was still very much legal. Prohibition was a success socially because it was able to lower alcohol consumption which in return helped reduce many of the country’s social problems. This law, a government “experiment” with very little ways of enforcement, succeeded in cutting down the consumption of this very popular drug by one-third. It is not to say that Prohibition was the ultimate success, but it certainly is not the extreme failure that it is often made out to
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