Essay about The History of Prohibition - 975 Words

The History of Prohibition Source A is aptly named â€Å"Slaves of the saloon†. It shows a man handing over what we guess is his weekly wages to the owner of a saloon – we guess by the men drinking in the background that he is using it to buy alcohol. The source also depicts a woman and her children sitting around a table with no food. We can guess fairly easily that this is the man in the saloon’s family; there is a bill on the floor hinting at lack of money for necessities, utter desperation is on all of their faces. The poster was probably printed to persuade the general public that the 18th amendment (banning the transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors) should be passed. It is likely to have†¦show more content†¦The First World War undoubtedly played a major part in the beginning of prohibition. One big standing reason was that it was â€Å"unpatriotic† to drink beer which was most probably brewed in Germany. Source E was apparently taken after a raid on a â€Å"speakeasy†. The prohibition agents in this source have guns, making them look very professional and dangerous. The photo also shows us exactly how much alcohol was being stored and sold in these illegal bars – it seems as if the boxes have been positioned so they look like the raid is on a massive scale. All of the agents were looking at the camera so it seems unlikely that is it spur of the moment. The way the bottles of liquor are lined up makes me think that it is staged. It is highly possible that it was taken by the government to scare the owners of speakeasies that the government is cracking down on prohibition and they will not get away. It’s probably propaganda, the only problem being that the photo showed weakness on a level – simply by being taken and published (possibly in a newspaper – we don’t know the exact source) it shows that the prohibition perhaps wasn’t workin g as well as the government may have liked and that they had to reinforce it. There are seven prohibition agents in the photograph when in the whole of the Unites States ofShow MoreRelatedThe History of Drug Prohibition Essays953 Words   |  4 Pages Drug prohibition was not always accepted as it is today. Indeed, until the early twentieth century, there were few drug laws at all in the United States. Before the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, one could buy heroin at the corner drugstore; even Coca-Cola contained small amounts of cocaine until 1903 (Vallance 4). Some of the most proscribed drugs today were sold like candy and (quite literally) soda pop. What caused the sudden shift to prohibition? Prohibitionists often point outRead MoreAmerican History: The Prohibition Era522 Words   |  2 Pages â€Å"The Noble Experiment† â€Å"Prohibition seemed to offer the promise of a great cure-all for poverty, corruption, and crime† -Bill Severn In American history prohibition was a time in which the transportation, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages was prohibited. 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