Reason: Why Did America Change Its Mind About Alcohol?

Reason: Why Did America Change Its Mind About Alcohol?This semester my students are assigned one prohibition: Why did America change its mind about alcohol? I can't remember when the question was asked in class. Maybe there's a part of me that knows but I have to admit that I do not.I believe that Prohibition was passed by the very same Congress that recommended that the Democrats nominate President Andrew Johnson as the president of the United States of America. This was just one of the many years that the Democrats tried to pass an alcohol prohibition. Did Prohibition work? Well, let's look at some of the unintended consequences of prohibition in the United States.First, the number of gangsters increased dramatically. In New York, there were fewer gangsters and more time to kill and steal. However, the result of this was that it made it hard for the authorities to control the streets. The government couldn't find the resources to control the street gangs and, most importantly, they couldn't convince people to go out into the streets at night without fear of being attacked by these gangs. They had to go to places where there were fewer gangs but more of the population.Second, why did America change its mind about slavery? Part of the reason was that slaves didn't want to go to the Grand Central Station to pick cotton anymore. Part of the reason was that a lot of them wanted to go back to Africa where they could be free men. We don't think this is a good reason, but they really did want to go back to Africa. This is a very important question, one that should be addressed in an essay writing class.Third, the reason I believe that prohibition failed is because the American public was convinced that Prohibition was needed. I think that when the popular politician Jerry Ford said, 'That is not how we run this country, not in these days,' he was absolutely right. He was talking about Prohibition, but he was also talking about what he thought was needed.It's society that makes decisions about these things. If the public feels that something is wrong then the government will step in and try to fix the problem. If they feel that something is right, the government will step away from those things. It's up to us to question and write about the society we live in.Prohibition seems to be one of those times that we're in between. Maybe Prohibition was needed in a period of crisis and it wasn't for our current society. I'd like to see students write about this and talk about why they feel that our current society was less prepared for Prohibition than our ancestors were.The reasons for Prohibition were many. They were an example of the flaws in our current society and a great test for a student to help make their point.