A Nation of Hypocrites
While America voted for the Volstead act many people didn’t agree with it. The people demanded for the manufacturing, transport and sale of alcohol illegal. The product which many people enjoy was now illegal. Organize crime got created by the people who started supplying alcohol to a demanding public. The Government and local authorities tried to stopped this but the same people pretending to be against it were the same people fueling the business. A nation of Hypocrites is what America became during prohibition the nation that illegalized it was demanding it. At the beginning of the 1920’s prohibition was being enforce as best as it could. The federal government didn’t have much experience prosecuting crimes so many of these people got away with their crime. Many government officials didn’t support the Volstead act but they by law had to obey it but there were loopholes on the act they were more than happy to take.
The government corruption was everywhere in the United States. Organize crime was formed during this period. Some government officials were controlled by mobsters who paid them high amounts of money to keep quiet about their involvement with alcohol. Even people in the government ran speakeasies and all their money was coming from the sale of illegal alcohol. Some politicians had been paid by the mobsters to get into positions of power and they had to ignore any illegal alcohol activity in their cities. Prosecutors, judges, governors were paid off in order for people who get caught not to go to jail.
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A speakeasy is a word born in Philadelphia for a place that sells illegal alcohol. Many of these were across cities some of them fueled by politician’s money. Police knew about many of these establishment but they themselves were watching out for them because the pay was better than their regular pay. The usual ways to keep them open was by bribing police and prohibition agents in order not to get closed. Even if they got close they reopen rather fast. People who illegalize it were really demanding of the product and everything else that came with it.
We call America in 20’s a Nation of Hypocrites because if they were going to banned alcohol all together they should have done so. Loopholes in the Volstead act gave the same people who banned the ability to acquire this illegal product in a legal way. Even if the manufacturing of alcohol was illegal households could ferment fruit for family use. The religious people who got together and protested against alcohol still had their sacramental wine. People use to bribe doctors in order to get prescriptions for medicinal alcohol. Prohibition failed because of the same people that banned it were demanding the product even the people who were supposed to enforce the law were consuming it.
We call America in 20’s a Nation of Hypocrites because if they were going to banned alcohol all together they should have done so. Loopholes in the Volstead act gave the same people who banned the ability to acquire this illegal product in a legal way. Even if the manufacturing of alcohol was illegal households could ferment fruit for family use. The religious people who got together and protested against alcohol still had their sacramental wine. People use to bribe doctors in order to get prescriptions for medicinal alcohol. Prohibition failed because of the same people that banned it were demanding the product even the people who were supposed to enforce the law were consuming it.