Prohibition

In our time working with events of the 1920’s we have been able to connect Prohibition to several factors of the era; two examples being Women’s Suffrage and Civil Rights. Based on what we have learned in class, I have come to the conclusion that Prohibition was supposed to be a “fix all” solution during the Progressive Era. People like to blame things that go wrong on other people and possessions, and during this time the chosen victim was alcohol. The idea was that alcohol brought all trouble into society, like violence and misconduct, and if alcohol were to disappear the negativity would follow.  The problem is, alcohol is not the root of all evil. Thus, abolishing its use didn't make all problems disappear. Not to say that excessive alcohol consumption didn't cause some major problems that Prohibition could have fixed. Public misconduct induced by alcohol most likely decreased, and there is possibility that drunken violence was also minimized. However, while the possibility stands that Prohibition did some good, it also majorly established other illegal acts, like bootlegging alcohol. Therefore, not only was there more illegal activity occurring in result of Prohibition, but alcohol was still available to those who wanted it. Ultimately, the “fix all” solution to the problems in society was not a solution at all, and while we wish we could blame all wrong doings on one thing, it's unrealistic for things to be so easy.