The 18th Amendment: The Beginning of Prohibition
The 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on January 16th, 1919, was the beginning of the prohibition era. It declared that “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all the territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.”
Impact on the Nation
The 18th Amendment marked a major change in the United States. Annual alcohol consumption had been steadily rising throughout the 19th century, and it was seen as the cause of a number of societal ills. As a result, temperance and anti-alcohol movements stepped up pressure on politicians to take action. While some states had enacted their own prohibitions, the 18th Amendment was the first time a federal ban on alcohol was enacted.
The subsequent legislation – the National Prohibition Act (also known as the Volstead Act) – effectively made the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the United States. It had wide-reaching implications for the nation, with a major impact on the food, beverage, and entertainment industries, as well as creating a whole new culture of criminality in the US.
The End of Prohibition
The 18th Amendment lasted only 13 years; in 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment. Popular opinion had shifted against the ensuing crime, violence and economic disruption of the Prohibition era. The temperance and anti-alcohol movement had been defeated by a combination of public opinion and economic realities.
Prohibition had been a failed experiment, and the 18th Amendment was replaced by the 21st Amendment, which ended federal prohibition and allowed individual states to decide their own policies on alcohol. Since then, a number of states have also enacted bans on certain types of alcohol or created state-wide laws regulating the manufacture and sale of alcohol.
Conclusion
With its short lifespan, the impact of the 18th Amendment was far from what was originally intended. The Amendment was intended to fight crime, and reduce societal ills related to alcohol consumption, but ended up doing the opposite. The Amendment was eventually repealed due to a combination of public opinion and economic realities. The ensuing legislation, however, has remained in force and continues to have an influence on the US legal system today.