Prohibition

Alcoholism is a serious problem in many countries, particularly Iceland and Russia. Although cultures and countries worldwide have tried to ban or prohibit the manufacture, sale, and use of alcoholic beverages, few have been successful. Both Finland and the United States tried Prohibition beginning in 1919, and both repealed it—Finland in 1931 and the United States in 1933. The Prohibition movement in America was fueled in the first half of the nineteenth century by a revival of religious fervor that equated the perfection of humankind with the practice of temperance and the abolition of Slavery.

D.C. Library of Congress

Population increases in urban centers, where alcohol was most visibly consumed; the relative overrepresentation of rural areas in state legislatures, where proposed constitutional amendments have to be ratified; and the clash of evangelical Protestants, who viewed alcohol as evil, with Roman Catholics, who were not adverse to drink—all contributed to the Prohibition movement. The National Women's Christian Temperance League was launched in 1874 and the World's Women's Christian Temperance Union in 1883, the latter founded by Frances Willard, who also started the Prohibition Party in 1882. The Anti-Saloon League was established in 1893. In 1917 the matter came to a head: a temporary Wartime Prohibition Act (1917) reserved all grain for food rather than allow any for alcohol production, thirty-three states with [Page p381]more than sixty percent of the nation's population had adopted Prohibition measures, and then Congress proposed a constitutional amendment banning alcohol nationwide.

The Eighteenth Amendment (1919) consisted of three sections. Section 1, the major section, provided: “After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.” The amendment gave Congress and the states concurrent power to enforce Prohibition and made ratification dependent on the state legislatures within a seven-year period. It took only thirteen months for thirty-six of the forty-eight states to agree, and the amendment was declared by the secretary of state to be ratified on January 29, 1919. Nine other states subsequently added their approval, but Rhode Island rejected it.

America's experiment with banning alcohol is a prime example of the old adage that morality cannot be legislated. Other human vices have been treated differently by Congress and state legislatures. Today, for example, gambling is not merely condoned but officially sponsored by many states through lotteries and is used to pay for state programs, including education. Prostitution, while not widely legalized except in certain Nevada counties, is not strictly enforced in most jurisdictions. Tobacco products are still sold freely, except to minors, despite their proven consequences to health. Drugs, in contrast, are the one vice that remains subject to a war whose goal is to eradicate them, although there is some support for legalizing drugs so that the drug trade can be controlled and taxed by the government.

Guidelines to enforce Prohibition were established under the National Prohibition Act (1920), which became known as the Volstead Act after its congressional sponsor, Representative Andrew J. Volstead (R-Minn.). Then began the infamous era of bootleggers and speakeasies, Al Capone and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Both the Nineteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act were upheld by the Supreme Court in a series of seven cases in 1920, the lead case being Rhode Island v. Palmer.

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