Prohibition Era Essay Example for Free

Prohibition Era Essay Prohibition in the United States takes effect on January 17th 1920, this is also known as the 18th amendment. This amendment banned the production, distribution, and sale of alcohol. The majority of the population pushed this law and wanted it to happen, however they did not realize the consequences to come. The prohibition era would be one of the most violent tines in the 20th century. Moonshine is a part of the backwoods culture and prohibition only fuels the fire. With alcohol hard to find moonshiners could charge top dollar for their product. This got more people interested in the production and distribution of illegal liquor because the profit outweighed the risk. The problem with this was rookie moonshiners, because they did not know the safe way, or the safe ingredients to produce moonshine. Also with the increased production brought increased law enforcement. The officers were supposed to destroy any moonshine still they found but were often bribed to look the other way. Another way alcohol was being brought into the U.S. is by boat. Large carrier vessels would stock up in Canada and Jamaica and drop anchor three miles off the coast in international waters, this was called Rum Row. There were over one hundred distribution ships off the coast between Maine and Florida who would sell to any takers. Similar to moonshine the U.S. had to step there game up and beef up the coast guard to catch these rum runners. However the runner’s response to the coast guard was to build bigger and faster boats. Some of these vessels could carry up to two hundred cases of liquor and were equipped with airplane engines. Also some boats could produce a smoke screen and were bullet proof. Then the coast guard did whatever it took to catch the runner’s. They would even open fire on the boat and crew to prevent the shipment from making it to the coast. Most of this illegal alcohol was being sold in private clubs called speakeasies. These clubs had secret rooms and walls to conceal the liquor to fool the police if they were raided. Even with the high risk people were drawn to these clubs because of the thrill of being caught breaking the law. Nevertheless before you could enter into one of these clubs you had to be given the password. But once you were cleared to enter they had all the alcohol you could pay for. Another big player in the Prohibition era was the mobsters. The Bernstein brothers Purple gang and Al Capone’s North Side Gang were the main contenders. They had the public terrorized because they were not afraid to kill anyone, anywhere. The illegal liquor didn’t enter or leave the city without there say so. All of this competition caused a gang war to break out between the Purple gang and the North Side gang. In one massacre the purple gang dressed as police and lined members of the North side gang up against a wall and murdered them. With all of this violence in the U.S. people are fed up with Prohibition law. They realized people are going to drink no matter what the law says. Then to the relief of many Americans on December 5, 1933 President Roosevelt signs the 22nd amendment to revoke prohibition.