Andrew Joseph Volstead

Andrew Joseph Volstead , 1860-1947, American legislator, b. Goodhue co., Minn. A lawyer, he held several local offices in Minnesota before serving (1903-23) in the U.S. House of Representatives. He sponsored many measures in Congress and became a national figure as the author of the Volstead Act. Officially the National Prohibition Act of 1919, the federal law (passed over the veto of President Wilson) made provisions for the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment. The act defined an intoxicating beverage as one containing more than .5% alcohol by volume. It also gave federal agents the power to investigate and prosecute violations of the amendment. The act was modified (1933) in order to permit the sale of 3.2% beer and wine, and became void after the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment late in 1933. See also prohibition .

Bibliography: See J. A. Krout, Origins of Prohibition (1925, repr. 1967); A. Sinclair, Prohibition (1962, repr. 1964).

Volstead Act a law which enforced alcohol prohibition in the US from 1920–33. It is named after Andrew J. Volstead (1860–1947), American legislator.

Volstead Act (1919) US federal PROHIBITION Act, enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment, banning the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol. The Act was devised by the Anti-Saloon League counsel Wayne Wheeler but named after Congressman Andrew Volstead of Minnesota. It proscribed beer and wine as well as distilled spirits, to the surprise of those moderate prohibitionists who wanted the prohibition of spirits only. It became void by the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933.