Prohibition and Crime
The 18th amendment was a big overreaction to the alcohol problem. They shouldn’t have banned the alcohol because it increased crime dramatically. Bootleggers were everywhere making illegal alcohol as with gangsters who were controlling trade spots and towns or territories of a certain region. These actions from the gangsters and bootleggers show that the government went too far with the 18th amendment.
The 18th Amendment
The 18th amendment in the U.S. Constitution prohibited the manufacture, sale, transport, import, or export of alcohol. The amendment was not very effective and only resulted in a high public demand for illegal alchohol, which made producers and consumers criminals.
The Volstead Act
The Volstead Act tried to prohibit intoxication beverages, regulate manufacture, production, and use of high- proof spirits. This prohibition movement led to crimes including theft and murder. The government attempted to deal with the violators by setting fines of up to $1000, imprisonment for 6 months, and forfeiture of vehicles.
Gangsters and crime
Crime and gangsters during the 1920's was not uncommon. This was mostly due to the prohibition acts which the public found unfair. Illegal liquor was a public demand, which made many people criminals, and allowed many groups to make money, and grow their power through this illegal black market. Some famous gangsters came out of this period, one huge one was Al Capone, who was a big bootlegger. As a result, the reputation of the 1920's being a period of gangsters and crime is somewhat deserved because of all the illegal activity going on due to the prohibition.
thinking like a historian
Cause and Effect - Enacting the 18th amendment which cut off all supply of alcohol to america which was a weekly past-time for most or a lot of males and in this era there was already a vast amount of pubs and taverns. Those taverns and pubs couldn’t survive without being able to sell that alcohol and alcohol eventually became one of the biggest illegally sold items. Bootleggers came about because of the 18th amendment and Gangsters came about. The gangsters fought over who controlled the territories and where to sell the alcohol. These were causes and effects of the 18th amendment.