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Prohibition began on midnight of January 16, 1920. After decades of crusade by prohibitionists touting the calamities of 'demon rum' many people got the idea that most of what was wrong with America was caused by booze. They saw prohibition as the silver hammer that would decimate all of their alcohol-related woes. Instead, it turned out to be the lodestone that led America into thirteen years of chaos. The Eighteenth Amendment was put into effect to prohibit …

…though, is why it took so long before Americans realized that they had made a mistake? As an example of a time frame, Canada instated a prohibition law in 1917 and dropped it after only two years. However, it is only through mistakes that we can learn. I hope that, if anything, prohibition has taught America that freedom is more than just an empty ideal, and that it is necessary for a peaceful and honest society.