Eighteenth Amendment

Eighteenth Amendment. The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, instituting national prohibition, was born out of temperance reformers' efforts to remove the blight of alcoholic drinks from society, as they maneuvered within the intricacies of American federalism.In the 1880s and 1890s, prohibitionists in dry states struggled against the operations of a federal system that frustrated their efforts. Interstate commerce laws permitted liquor sellers from wet states to sell their products in dry territory. Also, the federal excise tax on liquor fostered a benign view of the liquor business as an economically vital industry. Drys (as prohibition advocates were called) responded by formulating a policy of concurrent state and federal action against liquor. In the twentieth century, the Anti‐Saloon League (founded in 1895) carried this strategy to new heights. Through league pressure, prohibition spread to half the population of the United States by 1912, and Congress adopted laws, most notably the 1913 Webb‐Kenyon Act, designed to aid prohibition states.

In 1913, the league called for a national constitutional amendment. Exploiting division in their opponents' ranks, drys drafted the bill and pressured Congress to pass it. Capitalizing on concerns associated with World War I, including German‐American dominance of the brewing industry and fears of diminished efficiency through alcohol consumption, the prohibitionists succeeded. Congress passed the amendment in December 1917 and sent it to the states for ratification, which occurred in January 1919. In January 1920 national prohibition went into effect. The amendment banned the manufacture, sale, transportation, and importation of intoxicating liquors within the United States. It granted Congress and the states “concurrent power” of enforcement. The Volstead Act of 1919 set up a specific federal enforcement apparatus.

The Eighteenth Amendment lasted only thirteen years before being repealed in 1933, the only time a constitutional amendment has ever been rescinded. Repeal was brought about by a number of factors, including the failure of enforcement. The concurrent‐power provision let the states abdicate their enforcement responsibility to the federal government, which—though it expanded its efforts—could not fully curtail the illegal liquor trade. Although prohibition significantly reduced the amount of liquor being consumed and improved the health of Americans, it also stimulated the growth of organized crime and corruption. A federal study, the Wickersham Report of 1930, documented the breakdown of enforcement, especially in the larger cities. Changes in cultural attitudes toward liquor consumption further eroded support for the policy. Antiprohibition editorial writers, newspaper cartoonists, and journalists like H.L. Mencken heaped ridicule on the Eighteenth Amendment and its supporters. Moreover, the strongest organization behind the amendment, the Anti‐Saloon League, lost much of its influence, just as lobbying organizations favoring repeal gained strength. Finally, the Great Depression, by destroying the claim that prohibition would assure national prosperity and by carrying predominantly “wet” Democrats into national office, assured the speedy demise of national prohibition.

The Eighteenth Amendment produced long‐lasting consequences for American law and constitutionalism. National prohibition stimulated growth in the federal law‐enforcement establishment, a process that did not disappear after repeal. The Eighteenth Amendment directly shaped the constitutional system by specifying a seven‐year time limit for ratification. Such limits subsequently became customary, allowing amendment opponents to translate delay into defeat.
See also Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse; Brewing and Distilling; Depressions, Economic; Progressive Era; Temperance and Prohibition; Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

Bibliography

Charles Merz , Dry Decade, 1931.
Norman H. Clark , Deliver Us from Evil, 1976.
Richard F. Hamm , Shaping the Eighteenth Amendment, 1995.

Richard F. Hamm