Prohibition

How successful was Prohibition ?

By Nicola Stokoe

On the 18th of December 1917, congress sent to the states the Eighteenth Amendment, which one

year after ratification on 16th of January 1919, banned the manufacture, sale or transport of

intoxicating liquors. In 1919 the Volstead Act defined as “intoxicating” all beverages containing

more than 0.5 percent alcohol, which then became illegal once the Eighteenth Amendment went

into effect in 1920. Prohibition of Alcohol in America between 1920 and 1933 was undertaken

to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, reduce the tax burden created by prisons

and improve health in America. Prohibition was a failure and within this essay I will explain why

I believe this to be the case.


The benefits of Prohibition depended on the amount of alcohol consumed being reduced. At the

beginning of prohibition alcohol consumption fell but then it began to increase again. Many

ordinary people wh...