- This article discusses the repeal of (alcohol) Prohibition in the United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In 1919, the requisite number of legislatures of the States ratified
The 18th AmendmentAmendment XVIII of the United States Constitution, along with the Volstead Act , established Prohibition in the United States. Its ratification was certified on January 16, 1919...
to the
Federal ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States...
, enabling national
ProhibitionIn the history of the United States, Prohibition, also known as The Noble Experiment, is the period from 1919 to 1933, during which the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol for consumption were banned nationally as mandated in the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States...
within one year of
ratificationRatification is the act of approving and paying for supplies or services provided to and accepted by the government as a result of an unauthorized commitment. It gives official sanction or approval to a formal document such as a treaty or constitution...
. Many women, notably the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, had been pivotal in bringing about national Prohibition in the United States of America, believing it would protect families, women and children from the effects of abuse of alcohol.
The proponents of
ProhibitionProhibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is a sumptuary law which prohibits alcohol. Typically, the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries...
had believed that banning alcoholic beverages would reduce or even eliminate many social problems, particularly drunkenness, crime, mental illness, and poverty, and would eventually lead to reductions in taxes.
- This article discusses the repeal of (alcohol) Prohibition in the United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In 1919, the requisite number of legislatures of the States ratified
The 18th AmendmentAmendment XVIII of the United States Constitution, along with the Volstead Act , established Prohibition in the United States. Its ratification was certified on January 16, 1919...
to the
Federal ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States...
, enabling national
ProhibitionIn the history of the United States, Prohibition, also known as The Noble Experiment, is the period from 1919 to 1933, during which the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol for consumption were banned nationally as mandated in the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States...
within one year of
ratificationRatification is the act of approving and paying for supplies or services provided to and accepted by the government as a result of an unauthorized commitment. It gives official sanction or approval to a formal document such as a treaty or constitution...
. Many women, notably the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, had been pivotal in bringing about national Prohibition in the United States of America, believing it would protect families, women and children from the effects of abuse of alcohol.
The proponents of
ProhibitionProhibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is a sumptuary law which prohibits alcohol. Typically, the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries...
had believed that banning alcoholic beverages would reduce or even eliminate many social problems, particularly drunkenness, crime, mental illness, and poverty, and would eventually lead to reductions in taxes. However, during Prohibition, people continued to produce and drink alcohol, and
bootleggingRum-running is the business of smuggling or transporting of alcoholic beverages or any other illegal drinks;illegally, usually to circumvent taxation or prohibition. The term usually applies to transport of goods over water, over land it is commonly referred to as bootlegging.-History:It wasn't...
helped foster a massive industry completely under the control of organized crime. Prohibitionists argued that Prohibition would be more effective if enforcement were increased. However, increased efforts to enforce Prohibition simply resulted in the government spending more money, rather than less. Journalist H.L. Mencken observed in 1925 that respect for law diminished rather than increased during Prohibition, and drunkenness, crime, insanity , and resentment towards the federal government had all increased.
During this period, support for Prohibition diminished among voters and politicians. John D. Rockefeller Jr., a lifelong nondrinker who had contributed much money to the Prohibitionist
Anti-Saloon LeagueThe Anti-Saloon League was the leading organization lobbying for Prohibition in the United States in the early 20th century. It was a key component of the Progressive Movement, and was strongest in the South and rural North, drawing heavy support from pietistic Protestant ministers and their...
, eventually announced his support for repeal because of the widespread problems he believed Prohibition had caused. Influential leaders, such as the du Pont brothers, led the
Association Against the Prohibition AmendmentThe Association Against the Prohibition Amendment was established in 1918 and became a leading organization working for the repeal of prohibition in the United States.- History :...
, whose name clearly asserted its intentions.
Women as a bloc of voters and activists became pivotal in the effort to repeal, as many concluded that the effects of Prohibition were morally corrupting families, women, and children. (By then, women had become even more politically powerful due to ratification of
the Constitutional amendment for women's suffrageThe Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each state and the federal government from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen's sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920.-Text:-History:...
.) Activist
Pauline SabinPauline Sabin founded the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform in 1929 in Chicago, convinced that prohibition was causing widespread crime, political corruption, increased binge drinking, and many other social problems...
argued that repeal would protect families from the corruption, violent crime, and underground drinking that resulted from Prohibition. In 1929 Sabin founded the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR), which came to be partly composed of and supported by former Prohibitionists; its membership was estimated at 1.5 million by 1931.
The number of
repeal organizationsAs increasing numbers of people became disillusioned with the negative effects of national prohibition in the United States, a variety of repeal organizations emerged...
and demand for repeal both increased. In 1932, the
Democratic PartyThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
's platform included a plank for the repeal of Prohibition, and Democrat Franklin Roosevelt ran for
President of the United StatesThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
promising repeal of federal laws of Prohibition. By then, an estimated three fourths of American voters, and an estimated forty-six states, favored repeal.
In 1933, the
state conventionsState ratifying conventions are one of the two methods established by Article V of the United States Constitution for ratifying constitutional amendments. Ratifying conventions have only been used for the ratification of the 21st Amendment...
ratified the
Twenty-first AmendmentThe Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which mandated nationwide Prohibition.- Text :- Background :...
, which repealed Amendment XVIII and prohibited only the violations of laws that individual states had in regard to "intoxicating liquors". Federal Prohibitionary laws were then repealed. The amendment was fully ratified on December 5, 1933. Some States, however, continued Prohibition within their jurisdictions. Almost two-thirds of all states adopted some form of
local optionLocal Option is a term used to describe the freedom whereby local political jurisdictions, typically counties or municipalities, can decide by popular vote certain controversial issues within their borders. In practice, it usually relates to the issue of alcoholic beverage sales...
which enabled residents in political subdivisions to vote for or against local Prohibition; therefore, for a time, 38% of Americans lived in areas with Prohibition. By 1966, however, all states had fully repealed their state-level Prohibition laws, with Mississippi the last state to do so.
According to his own account, humorist
H. Allen SmithHarry Allen Smith was an American journalist and humorist whose books were popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in McLeansboro, Illinois, where he lived until the age of six. His family moved to Decatur in 1913 and then to Defiance, Ohio, finally arriving in Huntington, Indiana...
was the first American to legally consume alcohol after the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. Smith claimed to have bribed a telegraph operator to send a three-click advance warning signal just before sending out the message that Prohibition had been repealed. Smith used the signal to take a quick sip of his drink at the party he was attending.
See also
- Joseph H. Choate
- Jouett Shouse
- Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals
The Methodist Episcopal Church Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals was a major organization in the American temperance movement which led to the introduction of prohibition in 1920...
- Pauline Sabin
Pauline Sabin founded the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform in 1929 in Chicago, convinced that prohibition was causing widespread crime, political corruption, increased binge drinking, and many other social problems...
- Repeal organizations
As increasing numbers of people became disillusioned with the negative effects of national prohibition in the United States, a variety of repeal organizations emerged...
- Republican Citizens Committee Against National Prohibition
The Republican Citizens Committee Against National Prohibition was established shortly before the 1932 Republican National Convention to pressure the party to support the repeal of prohibition. Key members included Joseph H. Choate, Jr., Henry Bourne Joy, Thomas W. Phillips, Raymond Pitcairn, and...
- Voluntary Committee of Lawyers
The original Voluntary Committee of Lawyers was founded in 1927 to bring about the repeal of prohibition and the Volstead Act. With its urging, the American Bar Association called for repeal in 1928. Under the leadership of Joseph H. Choate, Jr., lawyers in every state were actively involved in...
- William H. Stayton
Captain William H. Stayton founded the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment in 1918 and served as chairman of its board of directors. Captain Stayton and the Association played an important role in bringing about the repeal of prohibition in the U.S. . He was also the author of Naval...
- Women's Moderation Union
The Women's Moderation Union, headed by M. Louise Gross, helped belie the Women's Christian Temperance Union's insistence that it spoke for American women...
- Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform
External links
- "Whereas passage of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited `the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors' in the United States, resulted in a dramatic increase in illegal activity, including unsafe black market alcohol production, organized crime, and noncompliance with alcohol laws;"