Bill Sunday once said “The reign of tears is over! The slums will be only a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corn cribs. Men will walk upright now,women will smile and the children will laugh. Hell will be forever rent!” (J 434). That was Bill Sunday’s speech on what Prohibition would do. Prohibition was the 18th Amendment made to ban all the transportation and selling of alcohol. Many thought alcohol caused corruption and Prohibition would solve their problems.

One thing that caused Prohibition was that people spent all their money. Men bought too many drinks and were unproductive during work. Factory workers would go to work dunk and would slow the production lines down. Then workers would spend all their earnings on alcohol and go home with nothing for their families. Drinking was also considered unpatriotic because beer is made from wheat. That wheat could have been sent to the armies fighting in WWI.

Prohibition was also caused by the increase of crime done by drunk people.  Drinking was considered a sin because intoxicated men caused crimes like child abuse and were very violent. The WCTU, originated in Ohio in 1873, and was an organization of Christian women who were against drinking because wives were beaten by their drunk spouses. With organizations like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League opposing the consumption of alcoholic drinks the amendment was ratified in January 1919 and then passed on January 16, 1920.

Once Prohibition began, the idea of less crime came to an end. Speakeasies were created along with rum runners and bootleggers. The rum runners and bootleggers were criminals who smuggled alcohol across borderlines. These people then brought the alcohol to speakeasies that were hidden underground saloons where people needed a code to enter and drink. Even people who didn’t drink before tried to because of the ban ;those people thought it was cool to drink. Prohibition was another reason to break the law. Some of these crimes were committed by the average, some person who had been bribed.

Then, there was organized crime like gangsters. One of the most famous gangsters was Al Capone who was the crime lord in Chicago. He made loads of money with his empire of 2000 speakeasies, gambling, and smuggling. Capone accumulated around 100 million dollars each year. He was finally caught because of tax evasion. He was sent to prison for 6.5 years. When he got out he then died at age 48 (Bio).

Prohibition was not affecting the economy positively. Without alcohol jobs were lost and theaters, restaurants, and breweries  went out of business. Some people tried to make their own drinks from medical  alcohol. The government then started poisoning the alcohol and so about 1000 people died each year. The loss of alcohol cost the government 11billion dollars in tax revenues (History.com).

Prohibition was finally repealed  in 1933 because only 19% of the Americans liked the ban. It was repealed by the 21st amendment which ended Prohibition. This was the first amendment to be repealed by another amendment.The repeal allowed the U.S to gain more money from the selling of alcohol. Many thought about how prohibition was going to help but they were wrong and they learned that the hard way.