Why was Prohibition Introduced & Repealed? (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE History): Revision Note

Summary and timeline

In the 1920s, the US introduced a law known as prohibition. This was a nationwide ban on the production, sale and transportation of alcoholic drinks. The US government introduced prohibition because many people believed alcohol was causing social problems, such as crime, poverty and family issues. They hoped that, by banning alcohol, society would become healthier and more law-abiding.

Prohibition did not work out as planned. Instead of reducing alcohol consumption, it led to a rise in illegal activities, such as bootlegging, which involved people making and selling alcohol secretly. Gangsters such as Al Capone became powerful figures by smuggling and distributing alcohol. Every city in the USA had an issue with gangs, which created a lot of violence and crime in cities across the country. Prohibition also led to corruption among law enforcement officials. Bootleggers bribed police officers to turn a blind eye to their illegal activities, which undermined the rule of law and eroded public trust in the government.

Prohibition had unintended consequences and caused more problems than it solved. While it aimed to improve society, it instead fuelled crime, corruption and social unrest in the US throughout the 1920s. As a result, the government repealed the act in 1933.

What was prohibition?

• Prohibition made the production, selling and distribution of alcohol illegal

  • This was a federal law

    • As a result, it applied to all states in the US

• Prohibition took some time to come into law

  • Discussions about prohibition began in 1917

  • In 1919, the government passed two acts to legalise prohibition

    • The 18th Amendment made the sale of alcohol illegal

    • The Volstead Act classified alcohol as any drink that had ever contained more than 0.5%t alcohol

• Prohibition began in 1920 and lasted until 1933

Why was prohibition introduced?

Pressure from religious groups

• The Methodists and Baptists did not agree with drinking alcohol. They believed that drinking alcohol was a sin

Pressure from temperance groups

• The Anti-Saloon League (ASL) and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) campaigned for prohibition

• They blamed alcohol for causing many social issues in the US, including poverty, crime and broken marriages

The First World War

• Many German immigrants owned alcohol companies, especially breweries

  • The public viewed buying alcohol from German immigrants as unpatriotic

Attitudes of business men

• Powerful industrialists did not like their workers drinking

  • For example, Henry Ford believed it decreased efficiency and led to his workers taking sick days

  • Ford influenced federal politics

Anti-immigrant feelings

• Immigrant communities such as the Irish, Germans and Eastern Europeans had a reputation for drinking a lot of alcohol

• Support for prohibition was linked to a dislike for these communities in the US

Why did prohibition fail?

• There were several reasons why prohibition failed, including:

  • An increase in crime

  • The lack of public support

  • Corruption

  • Problems enforcing prohibition

The end of prohibition

• By the 1930s, the US government could no longer justify prohibition

  • Enforcing prohibition cost the US government $13.4 million  

  • The government was losing out on $11billion of revenue from taxing alcohol sales

  • US citizens’ opposition to prohibition increased

    • Businessmen no longer wanted prohibition due to the increase in crime

    • The Great Depression led to mass unemployment

      • Legalising alcohol production would create more jobs 

    • Campaign groups such as the Women’s Organisation for National Prohibition Reform protested for the end of prohibition

      • They hated the social impact of prohibition, especially the number of arrests

• In 1933, President Roosevelt repealed the 18th Amendment

  • The banning of alcohol was now a state decision rather than a federal law

  • This meant that the ban remained in some states and not others