Why did the government make the prohibition law?

Question

My english teacher is making us do a project on the Roaring twentie's to get us ready to read "The Great Gatsby", and my group has to talk about Prohibition, Speakeasies, and Crimes. Can you please give me some information about why the government started prohibition and outlaw alcohol.

Answer 1

A bunch of do gooders thought it would make for less crime and better citizens if they took away alcohol (then, like now, alcohol abuse was responsible for a lot of lost productivity and domestic violence and petty crimes). The only problem is alcohol is easy to make and people like to get drunk. So alcohol consumption stayed the same and crime soared to all time levels. Any public policy has unintended consequences.

Answer 2

Prohibition was nothing more than a 'special interest group' (like many of today's political special interest groups), The Temperance Movement, convincing the legislative bodies that their point of view should be forced upon the entire nation. So, the Constitution of the United States, was amended for a minority social point of view. Hard to believe, but its true. Alcohol became illegal to make or possess.
And since people were still going to drink, an instant market for illegal alcoholic beverages arose overnight.
Alcohol was still legal in Canada and Mexico. This required cooperation for the 'local' gangs in the major cities to form networks to import and distribute alcohol in the United States.
Gangs weren't managed by nice people but lots of $$$ the reward for whomever controlled the network. Just check on Al Capone as a perfect example.
Another case of good intentions leading to a social disaster.
Illegal alcohol was readily available, criminal gangs became stronger and more widespread, ( the Mafia), and none of the problems that alcohol reportedly caused went away.
Nationwide organized crime was the primary result of Prohibition.