Did Prohibition Caused More Trouble Than It Solved Essay Example

expression made by the officials which suggests to us that they were corrupted.

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Source 2. Graph showing the average alcohol consumption (in gallons) per year. Taken from the source: Clark Warburton, The Economic Results of Prohibition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1932) This second source is a graph showing one of the positive outcome of prohibition. By paying attention to the graph, We can notice there is a significant change in the amount of alcohol consumption when prohibition was introduced. Before prohibition there was still a high amount of consumption averaging around 1 gallon per year. Then in 1921 there werea serious decline to 0.2 gallon per year, however after that year the alcohol immediately rose back up like the previous years before prohibition was introduced.

C. Evaluation of Sources Appendix 1. The source comes from a modern American Economist Jeffrey A Miron and was created in 2010. We can see the purpose of the source is to outline the failed outcome of prohibition during the 1920s to historians. We know that the source is a secondary source since it’s made about 80 years later after the events. By looking through this source, we can see that although it’s a secondary source which could tend to be biased or information could be false, however this source can still be useful for historians to learn facts on prohibitions. From this source we can learn that prohibition had caused a

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number of crimes such as prostitutions,

corruption and organized crimes gangs.

Source 2. Police enforcer’s raid of a speakeasy This is a photograph that is been taken by an unknown person, but we could assume the picture is taken by a journalist or a police official to emphasize the success they had achieved in prohibition. I think the main purpose of this photo is suggesting to people that prohibition was not a total failure as police were trying to make an effort in stopping the illegal distribution of alcohol. We can assume the picture is a primary source because firstly the picture is taken in black and white, and the people in the picture are dressed in old fashion style of clothing. Therefore since this picture is a primary source, it’s useful to us to a certain extent because this picture was taken right after the police raiding of a speakeasy. However this source has it’s limitations that it Candidate name: James Cooper Candidate Number: 0929 School Code: 000929 Hanoi International School even though it’s a primary source, but there’s only limited information we can retrieve from this picture. This picture only show one of the achievement made by the police, but that doesn’t necessarily mean prohibition was successful. Therefore if historians are looking to gain further knowledge then they would need to look for more sources from other historians to come to a conclusion.

D. Analysis Today there are a lot of discussions whether was prohibition was an effective system or not. I personally think Prohibition is not an effective system as it had created more issues towards the American society than helping it. Prohibition may have sounded

achievable but during the process of prohibition, there were a number of problems created. In appendix 1, Jeffrey A Miron an American economist has said “Prohibitions raise supply costs because black market suppliers face legal punishments for manufacturing, distributing, and selling”. This is one of the cause of prohibition which is alcohol were being sold on the black market to the public. The result of this had led to an “increase income-generating crime, such as theft or prostitution”. “Corrupt law enforcement officials and politicians” were also one of the negative outcomes of prohibition as black market suppliers had to pay them off so they could sell their products to the public. Candidate name: James Cooper Candidate Number: 0929 School Code: 000929 Hanoi International School

Now if you look at source 3, you can see one of the most popular event during prohibition which is the Saint Valentines Day Massacre. This happened when Al-Capone’s men had slaughtered his rival gang whom is led by Bugs Moran. Through this source we can clearly see the bloody and brutal outcome from organized crime gangs from prohibition during the 1920s. Therefore I think if there was no prohibition in America, it is likely that there will be less violence and crimes occurring in their society.

On the other hand even though prohibition had a lot of negativity. There were also positive outcomes to the American society. According to Appendix 2 which was created by Mark.H Moore, a professor in criminal of justice had said : “Arrests for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct declined 50 percent between 1916 and 1922, . Admissions to state mental hospitals for alcoholic

psychosis declined from 10.1 per 100,000 in 1919 to 4.7 in 1928”. This shows us that prohibition may have caused a lot of damaged to its society, however to a certain extent it was still able to achieve some of it’s minor goals.

Candidate name: James Cooper Candidate Number: 0929 School Code: 000929 Hanoi International School

Conclusion So overall I think the prohibition was an ineffective system and it had caused more problems than it solved. During prohibition there was only a minority group of people who stopped drinking alcohol. While many others decided to set up illegal alcohol business by building their own speakeasies, or being involved in organized crimes such as bootlegging. As shown in the source above, historian Jacob Sullum says : “ Whatever its benefits might be, they were not worth these costs”. This statement shows us that prohibition had caused a significant series of problems and it had created more damage towards societies than helping to develop.