Prohibition In The 1920's Essay

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Many problems occurred during the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. There was the increase in crime, corruption by law officials and administrators, the difficulties of enforcing prohibition, the interference of traditional drinking and the changing attitudes of the American people towards the prohibition.

The problems began with the assistance of the prohibitionists; who worked hard on pushing the idea of prohibition into Congress, even before the 1920’s. The eighteenth amendment on December 1st 1917, was to prohibit the importation, sales, transport and manufacturing of liquor. The amendment finally was ratified in 1919. The Volstead act, passed in 1919 but was not put into effect till after New Year’s Day of 1920, in which, all alcohol over one half of one percent in volume was illegal. These and others gave way to the problems that were to occur in the 1920’s and the beginning of the 1930’s.

Liquor was in every American’s mind, it was becoming attractive to drink due to the fact it was illegal and many Americans loved the idea of it being so secretive. Because of this, the increase in speakeasies grew tremendously during the 1920’s. While saloons …show more content…
In Cincinnati, Ohio, George Remus, a former attorney at law, started a new career as a bootlegger. Remus made millions by buying nine distilleries; using them to make the liquor. He made forty million dollars before he was apprehended by Federal agents. There was also a Captain Bill McKoy from Jacksonville, Florida, who made himself into a multi-millionaire by smuggling illegal liquor into the States. He accomplished this by putting the liquor in schooners and sailed from the Bahamas to New York. It was McKoy who founded the “Rum Row”, which allowed ships with smuggled liquor to wail without being detected by the law. Soon after the discovery, many would-be smugglers began using the same

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