Overview
1.Preface
2.Introduction
3.Main Part
4.Conclusion
5.Definitions
6.Sources
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| 4. Conclusion |
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The Prohibition of alcohol was probably the most senseless Amendment in the history of the United States of America. From one day to another, people were forced to change their habitudes of drinking alcoholic beverages. But only a minority really quit drinking, all the others became criminals. Any violator of the liquor law had the fear of getting caught. And some of them were arrested and convicted just because of drinking alcohol.
The law declared many "normal" US civilians for criminal; others saw a fortune in the new Amendment and took the opportunity and the risks to become a bootlegger. Some became rich, others lost everything, sometimes even their own life.
The illegal liquor business, caused by Prohibition, was the start of organized crime in the USA. Many politicians and other officials in all positions became corrupt and criminal. This state remained even after the repeal of the liquor law for a long time.
The US government itself lost billions of dollars because there was no excise taxes on illegal alcohol. The government also had to finance the stay of all the violators in the federal prisons. Through Prohibition they got punished twice:
they had less revenue and higher expenses.
The only good thing about the 18th Amendment was the disappearance of the old saloons with their vices.
All over the risky experiment of enforcing alcohol Prohibition was a big flop.
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| A popular poem of that time made this point best:
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| Prohibition is an awful flop. |
| We like it. |
| It can't stop what it's meant to stop. |
| We like it |
| It's left a trail of graft and slime, |
| It's filled our land with vice and crime, |
| It don't prohibit worth a dime, |
| Nevertheless we're for it.
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