A Failed Experiment
Prohibition was originally intended to make life better, but caused more problems then it solved. It did not prove to be a solution for alcohol abuse. The Federal government couldn't enforce the 18th Amendment. Prohibition was intended to improve the quality of life in America but was an unmanageable law, which led to the lawless behavior, expanded the influence of organized crime, and lost tax revenues.
During early American history, alcohol was regarded as God's Gift to mankind and a panacea for almost every type of ailment. A muscular slave was worth twenty gallons of whiskey. Baby bottles were laced with rum to keep babies "pacified". Men and women seldom went more then a few hours without a drink (Behr 7). There was little room onboard the ships that brought the first Europeans to North America in the 1600's. Although they only brought the necessities, one of these were barrels of alcohol. It was the only drink considered "good". Coffee and tea were imported. Milk spoiled fast, and drinking water was not always available, and at times could not be trusted. It was used as a safeguard against illnesses, and a cure for others. Even children were even given alcohol. They even drank in church (Lucas 19-20). Before American independence, local authorities and their London masters made sporadic efforts to reduce the scale of drinking, with very little success. The rules were rarely enforced, but in Massachusetts, habitual offenders were pilloried, and made to wear hair shirts inscribed with a large "D" or the word "Drunkard" (Behr 13). Organized efforts to limit the use of alcoholic beverages began during the 1820's. Massachusetts had the first temperance law in 1838. Maine, in 1846, passed the first state prohibition law. In the mid-1850's 13 states had such laws, but by 1863, all had repealed them except for Maine ("Prohibition"). Between January and July 1874, twenty to thirty thousand saloons were closed. Women were...
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