Preview

18th Amendment To The Constitution

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
977 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
18th Amendment To The Constitution
The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in January 1919 and executed in January 1920. It banned the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors”. This amendment was the finishing touch of decades of realization and fulfillment by organizations such as the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League, and was also built upon the dry laws of eighteen states. The Prohibition Amendment had heavy consequences. It categorized the brewing and distilling of alcohol as illegal. It then went on and expanded state and federal governments, inspired new forms of sociability between men and women, and suppressed elements of immigrant and working-class culture. During the Prohibition era’s initial years, amendment supporters were delighted by a drop in arrests for drunkenness, …show more content…
These stats seemed to prove without flaw that their campaign was a success. It then suggested that America’s future might continue to be successful; which would include happier families, fewer industrial accidents, and a superior moral tone(1920’s Prohibition).

The people's defiance to prohibition laws continued to rise and took the amendment’s advocates by surprise. People who could afford the high price of bootleg liquor rushed to speakeasies and gin joints. These establishments could be quite entrancing, where as before prohibition saloons had seldom welcomed women. The new versions of nightclubs invited both the bob-haired “flapper” and her “sheik” to drink cocktails, smoke, and dance to jazz. Working-class consumption of liquor migrated from saloons to their homes. “Bathtub gin”

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Prohibition was the eighteenth amendment that was ratified in 1919 (Ch. 25 & 26 ppt).…

    • 230 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 18th Amendment is a moment in the early 20th century that often is passed by unrecognized for the important failure that it was. Leading up to the Volstead Act, the U.S. needed someway of taking the tax income earned through alcohol, leading to income tax, during prohibition the influences for many pop culture icons like Al Capone or Izzy Einstein emerged, and afterwards, drinking declined. Daniel Okrent’s Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition details this rich history surrounding the Eighteenth Amendment including, the time leading up, what occurred during both socially and politically, and the aftermath. Orkrent is not kind to prohibition, he finds it to be a colossal failure, seeing a spike in crime apart from drinking, a split in political ideology, as well as an incoherent, divided government trying to execute this amendment. Okrent’s belief seems to be throughout the book is that, although…

    • 1437 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prohibition Fast Facts

    • 2587 Words
    • 11 Pages

    As Americans, we like to look back to the Roaring Twenties and the Prohibition Era with a fond feeling of nostalgia. It…

    • 2587 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dry Manhattan Summary

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Believing in this Anderson relied on governmental action to help promote his crusade, “the Prohibition of alcohol and the elimination of the saloon would morally uplift the people of the United States, ultimately creating a healthier citizenry, safer cities and workplaces, and a more efficient society” (Lerner, 2). At first everything seemed to be moving in the right direction with the passage of the 18th Amendment, the government was taking a more active role in the personal realm of citizens lives, specifically in the areas of: Health & safety, Business growth and activity and Social programs. These aspects in which government were supposed to be helping soon began crumbling creating the opposite effect the supporters intended to establish. This caused business and politics to suffer. Many jobs were lost and businesses were forced to close; owners could no longer afford their rent and saloons. All across the city people were struggling with the thought of staying open (breaking the law) or altering/shutting down. Immigrants and Americans resisted in great numbers by distilling their own alcohol and frequenting speakeasies. Terms as "bootlegger" or "bath tub gin," became household words and illegal alcohol fostered graft, organized crime, and violence. Gangs of hoodlums became more powerful as they trafficked in alcohol. Even law enforcement became involved, bartenders claimed that agents had often been their best clients. Since many of them did not believe in the cause they were looking for personal gain and participated in the corruption by selling tips, taking bribes and leaking information. Leaders had concluded the experiment was a dismal failure, “State prohibition Director Frank L. Banks resigned his position in frustration, telling reporters that prohibition enforcement in New York was “a hopeless and thankless task”” (Lerner, 71). Progressives had thought they could…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Before the 18th Amendment became a law, mostly women but also some men, blame alcohol for violence and other problems that were affecting there’s and others lives. They would take axes and other weapons and attack saloons or other places that stored alcohol, destroying all of it. The motivation for the 18th amendment was inspired from these reasons and their desire to make a better society by banning alcohol. We now know that the 18th amendment failed and actually made things worse.…

    • 82 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Anti-Saloon league was founded as a state organization in Oberlin, Ohio in 1893. It became a legitimate national organization in 1895, and overtook the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Prohibition Party to seize leadership in the crusade to prohibit alcohol in the United States in the early 1900’s. In 1909, the League moved to Westerville, Ohio where it founded and operated the American Issue Publishing Company: a propaganda front for the League which it adroitly used to distribute pamphlets, leaflets, magazines, and books all centered around the single issue of prohibition. The League spread across the United States to work with churches to realize its objective of Prohibition, and in 1913 publicly announced its ambitions to prohibit alcohol nationwide through a constitutional amendment. In 1916, it oversaw the election of the two-thirds majorities in both houses of Congress required to inaugurate the 18th amendment. The 18th amendment was ratified in 1919 and took effect in 1920. The meteoric rise of the Saloon League in the early twentieth century and its brief triumph after the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1920…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although intended to improve U.S. society, Prohibition actually corrupted society with higher crime and negative impact within families. Prohibition officially started with ratification of the 18th amendment on January 16, 1920 when it banned the manufacture and sale of alcoholic drinks (clarified by the Volstead Act which defined alcoholic drinks as any beverage that was more than .5% alcohol by volume). Prohibition eventually ended 13 years later in 1933. Prohibition was known as the “noble experiment.” Organizations such as the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union thought that banning alcohol would reduce drunkenness, crime and poverty. The Volstead Act stated “any item designed to manufacture alcohol was illegal” and set…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alcohol was thought to be the source of several of the nation’s problems. Issues like domestic violence, unemployment and poverty. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union first introduced the idea of prohibition, the illegalization of the buying, selling or consumption of alcohol. Prohibition was made official in 1919 as Nebraska became the 36th state to ratify the proposal. Prohibition took effect one year later in 1920. In the beginning, prohibition had an overwhelming amount of popularity from most of the country however Americans quickly changed their mind. Prohibition ended in 1933 with the 21st amendment to the Constitution. The increase in crime across the nation, several negative financial aspects of prohibition, and the eventual increase in corruption and loss of national restriction were all factors in the nation’s sudden change of heart.…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The government believed that the life of Americans would be better without alcohol, so the government tended to improve the situation by passing the 18th amendment. The goal of the prohibition was to have the men stay away from alcohol and go to work, and prevent the Americans from spending money on alcohol instead of daily supplies. However, the prohibition of alcohol seemed to have the opposite effects on American life. The spending on alcohol increased, and more and more organized crimes appeared. There were numerous bootlegging and speakeasies, which illegally sold alcohol to people. Ironically,…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “I call myself a businessman. I make my money by supplying a popular demand. If I break the law, my customers are as guilty as I am”(May 91). Prohibition was put into place in 1919, and this instantly did not sit well with many Americans. The Eighteenth Amendment made it illegal to “manufacture, sell, or transport liquor on a national level”(Moss 147). This however did not make it illegal to drink alcohol, just to produce or sell it to the consumer. People all over the country just wanted to drink and have fun but in a heartbeat, it was next to impossible to get any type of alcohol. Shortly after the Volstead Act was passed which defined intoxicating liquor as “ a drink that was more than .5 percent alcohol”(Moss 147). With it now illegal to get liquor there was…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    attained its lofty goals. The American people looked at the pleasures and dangers of alcohol and…

    • 131 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Was the Prohibition act successful in improving overall health of the country’s citizens and decreasing…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the roaring twenties, society began evolving into political and industrialize perspectives which allow growth in many different aspects of life. The events occurred during this period exceed the feminine rights to vote and show prospects in equality of gender. However, many illegal activity began due to the eighteenth amendment enacted on January 16th, 1920. The eighteenth amendment was ratified to decrease drunkenness and family abuse when consumed alcohol. The prohibition interdicted the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol in the United States. Thus, contributed in the creation of bootlegging liquor business as a complex criminal enterprise and many other illegal activities.…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prohibition In The 1920's

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of liquor known as Prohibition. The result of a widespread temperance movement during the 20th century, Prohibition was difficult to enforce and people would go through extreme lengths just to get their hands on alcohol. The illegal production and sale of liquor, the proliferation of speakeasies, and the rise in gang violence and other crimes went way up. This led to waning support for Prohibition at the end of the 1920’s.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the beginning of the 1920’s, a law was put in place in order to ban alcohol. This law, the 18th amendment, prohibited all alcoholic beverages across the United States. As a result of this act, many bars were forced to shut down, no alcohol drinking was legal and the number of alcohol manufactures was dramatically decreasing.…

    • 178 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays