The eighteenth amendment of the United States Constitution prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the U.S and is most commonly referred to as Prohibition. Many believe that it prohibited the purchase or consumption of alcohol but it in fact did not (Prof. David J. Hanson, 2017). For anyone who is not well versed on the U.S. Constitution, they many not believe that this is an actual amendment. Today it is legal to manufacture, sell, transport, export, import, and pretty much do anything else with alcohol. That is because the 18th amendment is the only amendment in the 230 years since the Constitution was written to be repealed.
December 17, 1917, the United States House of Representatives approve the 18th Amendment (which prohibit the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages of any sort in the United States) with a vote of 382 to 128.A day later, the US Senate agreed on the Amendment with a vote of 47 to 8. A year after, over three-quarters of the fifty states ratified the Amendment. The 18th Amendment officially went into effect somewhere in the early 1920s. America became known as the dry country. The 18th Amendment lasted for 13 years until both the Senate and the House voted to remove the Amendment.
In 1919, Congress passed the 18th Amendment which banned the sale and consumption of alcohol in America (Doc B). Prohibitionists overlooked the tenacious American tradition of strong drink and of weak control by the central government. Thus, there was tension between the modernists and the traditionalists. Although the amendment was passed, alcohol was still distributed illegally. Actually, prohibition spawned many crimes, such as illegal sale of alcohol and gang wars.
Alcohol is horrible for the body, but it might be good for the country. The 18th Amendment was approved on December 18, 1917 by Congress to take away alcohol in the United States. This was followed by the Volstead Act that defined a drink as intoxicating if it contained more than 1% alcohol. This eliminated beer, wine, and other soft liquors. America later repealed the Amendment.
Temporary fun with lifelong consequences; alcohol. In 1919 the 18th amendment was ratified, this amendment declared it illegal to manufacture, transport and sell alcoholic beverages. America repealed Prohibition due to the crime rate increasing, failure of enforcement and no money being made off of alcohol. Due to the crime rate increasing majorly during Prohibition America had second thoughts on it. The US Census and FBI Uniform Crime Reports in Drug War Facts shows us a graph representing the homicide rate before, during and after the years of Prohibition.
In an era of drunkenness being chastised by religion, a new Amendment was born. This new amendment was known as the Eighteenth Amendment. The Eighteenth Amendment gave the government the right to limit personal liberties. This amendment took away the right for citizens of the United States to manufacture a beverage containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol. This amendment also prevented this type of beverage from being sold or transported.
But it was then overridden by the House the same day and by the Senate the next day and became law on October 28, 1919. This beginning was unusual because of the veto from President Wilson. Even though it was vetoed by him, the House of Representatives and Senate passed it with no questions, (The Volstead Act, 2015). What this Act meant to the United State citizens was the making of intoxicating beverages was illegal.
During the prohibition there was a long fought war against people who illegally manufactured and distributed alcohol. The prohibition began in the early 1920's and ended in 1933. The prohibition banned the manufacture distribution and sale of alcohol. The law was passed for many reasons. Important names at the time including John D. Rockefeller said that drunken workers were bad for business.
Many people also saw drinking as a huge drag on the economy and wasting money on alcohol was unpatriotic. Prohibition lasted for about 13 years, it was the banning of alcohol manufacturing, transporting, and selling in the United States. America repealed the 18th amendment which ended prohibition because of crime, weak enforcement with lack of respect for the law and economic reasons. One of the reasons the federal government repealed prohibition was because of the increase of crimes.
Alcohol was immensely important to immigrants that came to the United States from Europe in the 1600’s. A few centuries later, specifically 1917, many Americans believed that alcohol consumption was a problem. An eighteenth amendment was assembled and passed by congress which banned production, transport, and marketing of alcohol. Even a drink consisting of over 1 percent alcohol was considered an alcoholic beverage. America was officially a “dry” country.
Adopted from the national temperance movement, opponents believed that the use of alcohol was reckless and destructive and that prohibition would reduce crime and corruption, Even though it was saving lives it brought its cons. It drove a new gangster movement which made the alcohol business a lucrative one. The prohibition encouraged disrespect for the law and strengthened organized crime. Prohibition came to an end with the ratification of The Twenty-first Amendment on December 5,
The temperance movement sought to reduce or eliminate the consumption of alcohol, which was seen as a major social problem. The movement succeeded in the passage of the 18th Amendment, which banned the sale, manufacture,
Lastly, Protestants thought the culture of drinking conflicted their religious morals. The eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited alcohol, was ratified on January 16th, 1920. An illegal alcohol market rose as a result. “Bathtub gin” was made with stills people bought from hardware stores, and “rumrunners” illegally transported alcohol. In 1924, rumrunners smuggled an estimated $40 million worth of liquor.
Prohibition’s Failure In the 1920s, Al Capone was a name that inspired fear into the hearts of all of Chicago. His reign as crime boss over Chicago came because of a single government act. This act was the Eighteen Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, commonly known as Prohibition. The common goal for the law was that alcohol related crime would go down and the problems of drunks who did not take care of or provide for their families would be eradicated.
Prohibition was a period of 13 years in U.S. history in which the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor was made illegal from 1920 to 1933. It was known as the “Noble Experiment” and led to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. There were many reasons for why prohibition was introduced, one was that a ban on alcohol would practically boost supplies of important grains such as barley. Another was, when America entered the war in 1917, the national mood turned against drinking alcohol.
