History of Prohibition: Why It Failed

we all know the story in the 1920s those half-witted crazies from the rural parts decided that alcohol was the product of Satan's Temptation Of Man Mobsters popped up people died and everyone decided that it was a bad idea right well not entirely prohibition is one of those moments in American history that is often pointed to as one of the great missteps in the nation's timeline amongst other things but it wasn't as clear-cut as it initially seems so with that we'll be taking a look at American prohibition of alcohol alcohol itself has been a part of culture for a very very long time while I don't intend to delve into the history of alcohol today I do feel it's important to know why people decided it was worth Banning in the first place first let's start off in 1791 in the relatively new United States the Revolutionary War had left a noticeable debt in the nation's financials to ease the strain a tax was proposed on the sale of alcohol produced within the nation the idea the tax alcohol wasn't at random it was considered luxury to an extent and therefore the Assumption was that the response would be relatively calm at the same time those who believed alcohol caused Great pain in society through abuse addiction and drunkenness favored the tax to discourage its use the response to this wasn't quite as calm as originally planned and thus Rebellion death and Military response formed the core of the Whiskey Rebellion again a story for another day alcohol was divisive to many to some it was a necessary part of life an extension of the Freedom Americans fought to gain to others it corrupted good men into shells of their former selves throughout the years resistance to alcohol consumption grew the resistance formed the core of temperance movements that popped up all over the world during the 18th through 20th centuries as the 1800s went on resistance to alcohol transformed from stopping alcoholism to stopping consumption of alcohol in general religion was quite core to the movement with the drink being seen as immoral as well as various women rights movements as drunk men could return home home from bars to commit violence against family members at the same time poor water in the nation made alcohol quite the go-to drink for not catching various diseases prohibitionists also known as dries attempted to fix this by creating Fountains of which people could get clean water for free while these private Ventures would not pop up everywhere due to cost it was a movement in its own right and some still stand today main loss seems to be a big Catalyst in the Advent of the prohibition movement for the first time state law dictated the sale of all alcohol except for medicine not particularly popular with many and eventually led to a violent Riot regardless it inspired other states to seek prohibition even though this major Riot caused the repeal of the law only to again be legislated just 3 decades later it would be in the 1890s when more serious movements against alcohol started the most important of these would be the anti- saloon League or ASL ASL was promoted as a religion based organization that existed solely to combat alcohol the goal was to ban it outright and the means of doing this were quite Shady to say the least ASL truly mastered the art of influencing mass media it would function as a group that screamed the loudest that fought the dirtiest and would refuse to stop its goals it would gain political allies through Finly veiled corruption basically ASL would confront a politician and if they agreed to join the cause they would almost have a guaranteed spot in office if they refused they would nearly guaranteed to lose the election ASL was a political Powerhouse that got whatever it wanted it gained a fervent following among many from progressives to racists from intellectuals to the common worker by using the persuasion of religion and morality it would grow astronomically the leader of this league was Wayne Wheeler quite an unassuming looking man an ohioan who grew up on a farm he would grow deep resentment from a young age for alcohol he was injured by a worker on the farm who was quite drunk and managed to stab him with his farm tools this event transformed wheeler who would go on to join the ASL after college starting l in the ranks he would quickly move up with his natural undying hatred of alcohol he realized to further the movement he needed a lot of public approval and fast this began his policy of Wheeler ISM which would use the media to make it seem as though the general public was all in on a specific issue how would this be achieved some rather dark means actually this is where the corruption comes into play as fear against the ASL Reed down for politicians wheeler was by many means not a man to argue with he was unwi willing to change Minds on his beliefs and instead opted to resort to pushing for laws that would be obviously against the general public he saw only one option now it's not to say the movement was all based in less than moral messaging and Corruption many citizens supported ASL simply because they believed alcohol was genuinely making the world a worse place some just had a distaste of Germans after the war and German culture was quite fond of alcohol anyway for many the idea was that if alcohol was a eliminated crime Associated around alcohol would be two oh boy were they wrong this leads us to December 18th 1917 on this day the 18th amendment was passed which banned the creation and sale of alcohol this is not appli to drinking it however so a rather major loophole existed for many it would also be quite a while before this would be ratified in the meantime the wartime prohibition Act of 1917 would be passed banning all alcohol over 2.75% while is intended to rationing grain for the war effort this would not be its final purpose as the war ended just a week earlier by January 16th 1919 the 18th amendment was ratified and alcohol would be made illegal on January 17th 1920 the voled Act was introduced to set forth more standards on the 18th Amendment such as the specific percentages of alcohol allowed in home beverages usually limited to .5% passed on October 28th 1919 the immediate response to this was actually what was intended less people drank and it seemed like overall the goal of the temperance movement succeeded but this would start the downfall of the prohibition movement literally just as it was starting business savvy crime leaders saw opportunity in the passing of the act the demand for alcohol would rise and only those willing to operate outside the law would be willing to supply it some began to gather and collect alcohol in huge numbers as to sell it once the law would pass as this illegal sale of alcohol became more fruitful violence began to grow gang leaders became wealthy men and this wealth brought power control of vast areas with their resources they were quite well known in fact and this would lead many to question why weren't they arrested the reason well they were too powerful if somebody would attempt to call them out arrest them or inform police they would be killed or bribed those who demanded prohibition for a safer world were quite disappointed to say the least crime Rose and many died it seemed fairly evident the movement was failing many people would drink alcohol in these days under the safety of a local Speak Easy this location hidden from local authorities would Garner a culture of its own women were more accepted here than bars of days past and the world of men only bars seemed to disappear Jazz was very popular and would reach mainstream status fairly quickly many opted for a more personal route moonshine would be made from homes with sometimes dangerous results and personal wine cubes could be sold as fruit drinks that would include instructions on how to ferment the American government wasn't too happy happy with the home brewing that was occurring and the action it would take still leaves many in disbelief manufacturers of ethyl alcohol a key ingredient to many home Brewers would be instructed to basically poison the ingredient to a point where people would be blinded or killed if they attempted to drink it death happened obviously but it seems hard to pinpoint a number of how many were killed by this rather terrifying action the ASL was supportive of this movement with old wheeler going so far as to suggest that this was what was needed to happen support plummeted for the ASL and it soon seemed apparent that the prohibition movement lost most of its support as a Great Depression caused major Financial issues for the nation legalization of alcohol became quite less of a necessity for the United States after all crime Lords made billions off untaxed alcohol now America needed some of that dome in March of 1933 this would lead to the Colin Harrison Act of 1933 which would legalize alcohol below 3.2% which effectively legalized bars again while not truly back to the level of days before prohibition it was a start with this came the 21st amendment on December 5th 1933 effectively repealing the 18th contrary to some belief it didn't actually make alcohol legal it just leaves that up to the state it removes the status of alcohol being outright illegal to make and sell everywhere in the USA and states have taken up this opportunity in many places it's illegal to sell alcohol in stores on Sundays and in others it is is much more restrictive Kansas would make it so alcohol could not be served in a public Bar until 1987 and even further Mississippi still kept the same laws of prohibition until 1966 the effects of prohibition seem a bit abstract today obviously alcohol is sold and the foundation of many businesses here in the states bars function as social hubs for men and women alike a result of the Speak Easy days jazz is mainstream what I'm getting at is the results of prohibition have changed America how much well let's ask ourselves what if prohibition never h just just kidding why do you think prohibition failed would you like to see more videos like this like comment and subscribe if you have not done so this is Cody of knowledge [Music] hub [Music]

Channel: KnowledgeHusk

Views: 2,519,612

Keywords: History of Prohibition, Prohibition, Alchohol, Gangs of New York, Legalization, United States, AlternateHistoryHub, history, KnowledgeHub, GeographyHub, American history, Al Capone, Great Depression, Why Prohibition Failed

Id: 1ynk6uD78tI

Length: 10min 1sec (601 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 13 2016