Midnight, January 16, 1920 a new ammednment was accepted to the constitution,
prhibtion. Prohibtion was the 18th ammendment and made it illegal to manufacture, sell, export,
or import intoxicating liqurs in the United States. Prohibtion also prevented people from
drinking alcholic beverages. These beverages included not only beer but, gin, run, whiskey,
vodka, and wine. So many people disagreed with this new ammendment and rebelled against it
that on December 5, 1933, Congress repealed the 18th ammendment. This was the only
amendment that had every been repealed in the United states Constitution.
There were also many supporters of the 18th amendment. the chief supporter of the
Volstead Act, Republican representative, Andrew J. Volstead of Minnesota was enacted to
enforce prohibtion in 1919. There were also many other supporters of this act such as
Woman's Christian Temperance Union ( WCTU) and the Anti-Saloon League. Both of these
groups totally supported the idea of prohibtion. When the 18th amendment took effect in 1920,
33 states already had legislation on books banning the sale and consumption of alcohol.
There were many reasons for the prohibtion movement. One important reason was
that alcoholism grew very rapidly in the West following the Civil War and Gold Rush days.
Alcohol was being abused in different ways as in gambling, prostitiion, and the immigrants that
were coming to america from Europe. Flappers in the 1920's were women that viewed alcohol
and smoking as new wonderful things. During the time of the flappers also known as the
Roaring twenties, prohibtion did not go over well at all. People would continuely disobey the
law and sneak liquor in wherever and whenever they had the opportunity too. Organzied crime
controlled the sale of alcohol during this period. Among some of the famous bootleggers were,
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