The Causes of Prohibition, Its Unintended Consequences and the Eventual Result
Governments worldwide try to ensure their citizens are safe from crime and other social vices. The efforts are manifested through investigating the causes of the delinquencies and bringing them to an end. Alcohol sales in the US has a significant impact on the people as it exposed them to prostitution, broken marriages, health challenges, and domestic violence. Since alcohol was perceived as a source of enjoyment, the liquor business thrived. The increase in the sale of alcohol destroyed the moral fibre in society (Andrews 11). Consequently, churches and religious institutions to come together to fight against liquor. The efforts to end alcohol consumption in the 1920s were challenging as the brewery industries thrived the most. War against alcohol gained momentum as more people and community organizations joined the uprising. It soon became a national campaign, and the 18th amendment was ratified to illegalize the manufacture and sale of alcohol in the country. Prohibition failed in its mission of protecting citizens from crime and social vices as it led to unintended consequences such as increased smuggling, decrease in tax revenue and upsurge of systematized crimes.
Prohibition, also known as the noble experiment, was supported by the middle class to protect their families from the dangers of alcohol. However, the factory owners felt their businesses were threatened and devised plans to revive them (Hall 21). Initially, the prohibition, a national movement, succeeded in the rural areas and some parts of the western state as they had no other source and the black market had not penetrated the regions. However, in the urban centers, it was challenging to stop the liquor as the brewers bribed corrupt government officials and black markets started mushrooming (Woodiwiss 31). Bootleggers were people who distilled and sold alcohol illegally in the country. They could not be arrested because the government officials mandated to implement the ban were corrupt. As a result of the corruption and moral decadence in society, more speakeasies proliferated, and the ban on alcohol lost its grip on society. The alcohol sold by the bootleggers was worse than what was banned as it was manufactured in hideouts and contained more alcoholic content than the percentage proposed in the Volstead act.
The 18th amendment, which introduced the ban on alcohol, became the first law in America to be rescinded. In 1933, it was repealed by the 21st amendment despite a powerful temperance movement. Another reason for failure was the vigorous campaigns by distillers and alcohol brewers who managed to convince anti-alcoholic politicians to vote against it and advocate for its repealing (Agnew 39). Further, some citizens also ignored the law and consumed illegal liquor sold by bootleggers. The prohibition law was not obeyed by some of the citizens but instead led to ideological differences. It became a war between Americans groups, the new and the old, the urban and the rural, Protestants and Catholics. Most adults often visited bootlegger’s dens secretly to quench their thirst for alcohol. Bootleggers thrived as they served an alternative supply of the rare commodity (Anderson 30). The prohibition movement failed to receive buy-ins from the key stakeholders. The Volstead act failed as it could not reduce the prison population and end public corruption as cartels and corrupt government officials, and the taxpayer burden was reduced as intended.
The main causes of prohibition and the passing of the 18th amendment were due to pressure from temperance groups and pressures from other welfare organizations. Temperance and religious groups believed liquor was against God’s will and responsible for the rising levels of crime and violence (Agnew 27). Christian believers who wanted to fulfill God’s will joined the war and campaigned vehemently to have a moral and safe country. Further, they termed it the principal cause of domestic violence and the breaking of marriages (Gelman 15). Preachers such as Billy Sunday convinced the conservatives that liquor was evil and required to be banned for a successful future (Andrews 17). Industrialists further believed that workers who took alcohol would be less efficient at work and therefore joined forces to ensure that their workers remained sober. Henry Ford is an example of a business tycoon in the USA who joined forces in the fight against liquor (Hall 16). As more employers advocated for it, the prohibition wave grew stronger and became a national movement which prompted the congress to launch the 18th amendment which placed a ban on alcohol countrywide.
Prohibition was intended to protect families from domestic violence and breakups, social vices and crime. The government’s efforts to protect the citizens was manifested through the enactment of the 18th amendment. However, the fight yielded unintended consequences such as the exponential growth of smuggling, expansion of black market and organized syndicate selling illegal liquor (Agnew 37). The black markets increased the rate of crime as the drug lords fought to protect their business. Consequently, there was a rise in the criminal gang who protected their illegal business of manufacturing and distributing alcohol against the law (Anderson 15). The tax revenue was also reduced, and the crime rate increased as people were not only getting drunk but had to drink while protecting themselves from the police (Andrews 12). The liquor industry had a ready market with taxes and employment opportunities guaranteed. When the great depression affected the USA and people lost their jobs, President Roosevelt considered legalizing alcohol to offer employment opportunities and raise government revenue through taxes (Gelman 18). As a result of the unintended consequences and the vehement campaigns by the alcohol brewers and distillers, the Volstead act failed to achieve its mission of protecting the citizens.
Mapping the Bootlegging Business
Despite the American congress passing the law prohibiting alcohol, many Americans wanted to enjoy beer and opted for a locally-made illegal brew. When they realized that the locally-made brew had a sour taste, they opted to import from Europe, Canada and Mexico. The mushrooming of bootleggers started in Chicago, where Al Capone ran a successful gang supplying liquor and smuggling other drugs into the regions surrounding Chicago. He became close to other gangsters, such as Frankie Yale, the main drug lord in New York and supplied imported drugs to Chicago, Indiana, Missouri, and North Carolina (Woodiwiss 21). The five major events that marked the bootlegging business in the USA include Torrio’s meeting with Al Capone, the Valentine’s Day massacre, rum running smuggling from Canada, Mexico, and Columbia by McCoy and his capture in New Jersey. The capturing of the alcohol ship in 1924 and subsequent burning to destroy evidence indicated that the war on smuggling was marred with corruption.
Major Events in the Bootlegging Business
The Confrontation between the Genna Brothers Gang and the Police
The shootout occurred at a club in Chicago when the anti-liquor police branch exchanged fire with the gang after chasing the three brothers. The gang hit the news headline between 1921 and 1925 as the Americans had passed the prohibition laws (Andrews 11). Genna and his brothers realized the thriving black market sells liquor, and the police started tracking them. The gang was notorious in Chicago and smuggled illegal liquor from other regions labelled A and C on the map. The main reason why the gang thrived in the business was that almost half of the American adults wanted liquor that tasted good and encouraged them to smuggle it from regions where it was not prohibited (Hall 18). The gang opened secret joints in Chicago, Nebraska and Virginia, where they had a successful empire.
Torrio Meets Al Capone
Al Capone was one of Chicago’s most influential drug lords who operated a successful illegal liquor company. He supplied alcohol to prominent people and was protected by corrupt government officials who received a bribe in return. In 1924, Al Capone met Torrio, a notorious drug dealer in Italy who introduced him to the booming liquor industries in Canada and started importing alcohol from region A and the region marked C on the map. The union between the two drug lords was ratified to form a drug syndicate that bribed police to have their way in the region and sold illegal liquor (Agnew 44). The union between the two drug lords began a drug empire and supplied many parts of the USA.
Capturing of Drugs ship in 1924
As drug cartels started importing drugs from other countries through the sea, crime rates and gang wars increased exponentially. The federal government tightened security at the coastlines to protect Americans from illegal liquor. The liquor smugglers known as rumrunners used the sea as the major entry points for alcohol importation, especially in the regions marked D on the map from where the drugs were transported to Las Vegas, Nevada, and New Mexico. On July 21, 1924, a coast guard commander named Fredric Admiral captured a ship suspected to belong to the rumrunners (Anderson 25). However, before the case could be taken to court, the ship was set ablaze to destroy evidence. The destruction of evidence is a sign that the drug cartels worked with insiders in the security forces to jeopardize the fight against alcohol and prohibition.
McCoy’s Surrender in New Jersey
McCoy is a famous rumrunner supplying illegal liquor in New Jersey and importing from Mexico, the region marked B on the map. The culprit was caught on July 16, 1923, when his man surrendered after a coast guard fired a six-pound missile, and he pleaded guilty to smuggling and was jailed in Florida (Andrews 18). The arrest symbolized that the American government was serious in the fight against drugs, and the Supreme Court ruled that all American ships with liquor could be seized up to thirty-four miles from American shores.
Valentine’s Day Massacre
The rise of rum smugglers and competition led to conflict among the gangs. The fateful event happened on February 14, 1929, when seven men were at Lincoln Park for a liquor transaction when the Chicago Northside gang attacked, trying to protect their territory. The murders in the region were associated with Al Capone and indicated an emergency of war to control the bootleggers in the region. The fight to control illegal business was the root cause of violent crimes and unrest in the regions. The government could only win the war against the smugglers by placing loyal and incorruptible law enforcement agents in a strategic location. The emergence of gang wars was a sign that the people were unsafe.
Works Cited
Agnew, Jeremy. Prohibition and Bootlegging in the American West. McFarland, 2022.
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Gelman, Arlene N., and Edward K. Gross. “A Valentine’s Day Massacre of Liquidated Damages: In re Republic Airways Holdings Inc.” The Journal of Equipment Lease Financing (Online) 37.2 (2019): 1-19.
Hall, Wayne. “The future of the international drug control system and national drug prohibitions.” Addiction 113.7 (2018): 1210–1223. Web.
Woodiwiss, Michael. “Reform, racism and rackets: alcohol and drug prohibition in the United States.” The Control of Drugs and Drug Users. CRC Press, 2020. 13–30. Web.