The US Constitution: The First Ten Amendments

On January 16 of 1920, The 18th amendment went into effect. The 18th amendment restricted the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages. Prohibition, as this time came to be known, did not end until December 5, 1933, when the 21st amendment was passed and ratified, ending National Prohibition. Supporters of Prohibition believed that it would help control social problems and economic problems as well. What Prohibition did was the totally opposite, Prohibition became a failure. Prohibition led to an increase in organize crime because violent criminals rose to powers, alcoholic-related crimes increased, and more politicians and police officials became corrupt.

Prohibition was passed as the 18th amendment, that importing, exporting, transporting, and manufacturing of alcohol was to be put to an end. Prohibition did not achieve its goals. Instead, it added to the problems that it intended to solve. It was expected that the decrease in alcohol consumption would in turn reduce crime, poverty, death rates, improve the economy, and the quality of life.

Between 1900 and 1913 more Americans began to drink more and more alcohol with the production of beer jumping from 1.2 million to 2 billion gallons; three times more alcohol than the average American drinks now.1 Prohibition was a movement sparked by women since women thought they were the ones who suffered the most from the cause of alcohol and women though that alcohol was a threat to a happy family. Women wanted to pass prohibition because many men would go to saloons and go home and be abusive towards their wives and children. Women and other groups eventually got 46 of the 48 states to ratify the 18th amendment on January 16, 1919.2 The 18th amendment on article one says, "...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."3 The first article on the 18th amendment is saying that the sale, making, or even bringing liquor into the United States or any of the United States' territory will now be illegal. Prohibition began to show its weakness right away when the United Sates government did not show much support. After the first year of prohibition the American people started to show less support and even led to organized crime. In 1933, the United States Constitution was amended to repeal the 18th amendment in the form of the 21st amendment.4 Even

The late comedian W.C jokingly said,” Once, during the Prohibition, I was forced to live on for days on nothing but food and water. Even Though, he said this as a joke it was true for majority of the public. The days before the 18th amendment was passed many depended upon liquor. At one point the use of alcohol became abuse. Then on January 16, 1919 the 18th Amendment was ratified so alcohol could not take over the life of Americans, but it didn't go quite as planned. The Prohibition banned the manufacturing, sale, and transportation of alcohol and the desperate ones found loopholes in this simple amendment. The Eighteenth Amendment was ultimately passed to keep a healthy working society and it was repealed because of the increasing organized crime and illegal activities all over the country.

The 18th amendment made made the manufacture, sale, distribution, and consumption of alcohol illegal. This amendment was a huge failure because it causes people to go behind the laws back and drink illegally. There was a secret drinking establishment called speakeasies and there were also people who provided alcohol illegally and they were called bootleggers. The act that enforced prohibition was the volstead act.

Throughout the United States existence, Americans have clung to the idea that all men are created equal. The Constitution of the United States of America has protected the rights of millions of people, and has influenced countries around the world. There are those who wish to see the document, that founded America, destroyed. They want to change it so it is no longer recognizable. The United States Constitution should not be reformed due to the possible destruction of what America stands for, a superb constitutional system, and the fact that it has stood this long. This makes the Constitution nearly perfect the way it is.

The framers of the United state constitution wrote the constitution in a way that it could not be easy to modify. However, there is an amendment process that allows Congress to change and shape the constitution in a way that will satisfy the political needs of the country.

the Constitution is living. It is very limited on what is changed, and why. Many politicians

The 18th amendment, known as prohibition, had America in fits when it was ratified in 1919. The government was hoping to achieve a healthier, efficient society with good morals and a break for women from receiving beatings from drunken husbands. Although the motives behind prohibition were reasonable, it was so corrupted from the beginning that it never could have successfully been carried out. America became a lawless period, and many Americans felt that if they could get away with ignoring one law, then they did not have to follow any others (Axelrod 239). However, it may have been necessary for the progression of America for it accomplished a great many other feats other than sobering up citizens. Women fought actively for

Prohibition, by this time, had become a long-standing issue. Groups such as the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union had been around since the 1800s. Conceived by Wayne Wheeler, the leader of the Anti-Saloon League, the Eighteenth Amendment passed

     Prohibition had become an issue long before its eventual induction as the 18th amendment in 1920. Organizations came about for the sole purpose of an alcohol free America. In 1833, an estimated one million Americans belonged to some type of temperance association (Behr 12). Many believed the absence of alcohol would help the poor as well as big business. Lower class people would put more money into savings accounts and productivity would increase among workers (Hanson 27). More importantly the “noble experiment”—was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, and improve the health and hygiene in America” (Thorton 1).

When the thoughts were still present of the British violation of civil rights during the Revolution; the beliefs were that the way the Constitution was written left a chance of unreasonable and unjust powers of the government. Several states demanded that the Constitution be amended so James Madison drafted twelve amendments that Congress sent to the states, of these twelve, ten were

In the early twentieth century, many states started making the consumption of alcohol illegal, and by January 6, 1919, the United States government added the eighteenth amendment to our Constitution prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol. The amendment formally called “The Prohibition”, reads the following:

On December 17, 1917, the House of Representatives had voted and approved the 18th Amendment also called the prohibition movement. The prohibition prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. Many people believed that drinking alcoholic drinks resulted in problems like child abuse, crime, and unemployment. When the amendment was first approved 80% of the American public supported prohibition, but ten years later many Americans wanted to repeal the amendment. Americans changed their minds and wanted to repeal Prohibition due to increase in crime, the formation of new gangs, the government was in debt and had a low economy, and senators and congressman who had placed the prohibition were the ones breaking the law.

The United States’ constitution was created to make sure that certain rights were guaranteed to America’s citizens. The constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the presence of George Washington. The Constitution has been around for over 200 years and to this day has 27 amendments. America has significantly grown in population and the economy has expanded much more than the delegates could have ever imagined, but through all of America’s changes, the Constitution has adapted as well. The first 10 amendments are the Bill of Rights. Even though the Constitution was created to make sure that American’s had certain rights, it has also taken some away. For example, the 18th amendment, which was later repealed by the 21st amendment.