What Is The Volstead Act Of 1919

Proponents of prohibition are quick to argue how crime technically decreased in its fourteen years before being repealed. While this is true for minor crimes of the times like mischief and vagrancy, organized crime saw a sharp increase once the Eighteenth Amendment outlawed alcoholic substances. While the Volstead Act was passed to enforce the amendment, and had an immediate amount of success, it was also attributed to an increase in the homicide rate to 10 per 100,000 population during the 1920s, a 78 percent increase over the pre-Prohibition period rate of 5.8 per 100,000.

The Prohibition Amendment took effect on January 16, 1920. The eighteenth Amendment outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol in the United States until it was repealed on December 5, 1933. The excessive amount of alcohol consumed primarily by men often resulted in violence, poor work performance, and wasteful spending of wages on alcohol, which were needed to support their families. Although the Prohibition Amendment did decrease alcohol-related felonies it created more organized crime and an increase of economic problems.

1919 - The states ratified the 18th Amendment, barring the manufacture, sale or transport of intoxicating beverages. Congress passed the Volstead Act, which gave the Commissioner of Internal Revenue the primary responsibility for enforcement of Prohibition (Internal Revenue Service, 2013)

The Prohibition goes by several names; The Volstead Act, the Eighteenth Amendment, and Nobel Experiment. However, those names mean nothing if one does not know what the Prohibition is. The Prohibition officially put into place on January 16th 1920 one year and one day after it was ratified. According to Annenberg Classroom for the National Constitution Center, implementing this Amendment deemed “the

The Eighteenth Amendment made alcohol illegal. However, this amendment was not being forced. So congress put out a law, called the Volstead Act, to allow law enforcement to use force to enforce the eighteenth amendment.

The 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act did terminate the production of alcohol, but didn’t stop many from drinking it. Bootleggers bribed many government officials to provide alcohol to the public and to preserve their multi-million dollar business. This shows how disorganized and corrupt the government was during Prohibition. The government was supposed to support the citizens and Prohibition at that time. Instead, they turned against the people of United States and joined forces with people that provided toxic alcohol to the public. Also, bootleggers produced millions of gallons of poisonous alcohol. Drinking it can cause blindness or be poisoned. When Prohibition didn’t exist, alcohol was regulated and checked if it’s toxic before being sold to the public. Even when alcohol was forbidden, people still found a way to get their hands on liquor and sold it to the public causing devastation. During Prohibition, the government ordered industrial alcohol companies to add chemicals to alcohol, fuels, and medical supplies, discouraging people from drinking it as a warning. As a result, bootleggers got access to it, offering these low quality alcohol to the public and more than 10,000 people died from drinking it. It’s critical how the government was supposed to stop people from drinking alcohol, but it actually led people to illness or

Imagine that you’re having a gathering or party. Everything is ready to go and then you remember that the 18th amendment prohibits you from buying liquor/alcohol. The party was supposed to be a blast, but how can you have a blast without alcohol or liquor. Prohibition was the 18th amendment. It stated that it was illegal to manufacture, transport, and sell alcoholic beverages in the United States. The Volstead Act added to the 18th amendment almost 9 months after. It added that when the 18th amendment went to affect, it was against the law to barter, import, export, deliver, furnish, or posses intoxicating liquor. Of course, drinking/usage was also banned, except for authorized purposes. Then it was repealed. It was the first, and only amendment in U.S history to be revoked.

The word "Prohibition" as stated in the World Book encyclopaedia "refers to laws that are designed to prevent the drinking of alcoholic beverages." The enforcement of the Volstead Act in the United States of America (USA) saw the nationwide beginning of the prohibition on the 16th of January 1920. The Prohibition brought about a change in attitude for the people of the United States (USA). It caused an extreme rise in crime; encouraging everyday people to break the law and increased the amount of liquor that was consumed nationwide. Overall this law was a failure because a law can not be enforced on a democratic society with out the support of a majority. The effect of this mistake (prohibition) lingered on American (USA) society for many

This was a controversial move for the Congress to make, it certainly did not go off without consequences. The Volstead Act, even as concrete as its rules seem, had many loopholes that the American people could abuse. One of the largest and most obvious loopholes was that medicinal alcohol could still be prescribed by physicians. Many people would feign sickness in order to obtain whisky legally and reliably. This caused the sale of medical alcohol to insanely spike in sales, but even with the obvious implications these stats held, the government did not remove whisky as a prescribed medicine. Many farmers would also profit off of alcohol made of grapes and other juices. Since the government couldn’t ban fruit juices, they would mix those fruits with a certain dry fruit used to create alcohol. Supplies in which you could easily brew your own alcohol could also be found in common groceries. People even went as far as to joining the congregation to obtain sacramental wine. If one wanted to enjoy their drinking with others, they could just enter one of the many “Speakeasies,” popping up underground. These secret bars had secret entrances, which could only be accessed with a spoken password. It was said that ‘with every legitimate bar closed, six speakeasies would take it’s place.’ While some made the use of legal loopholes to get their alcohol fix, many turned to crime and subterfuge. People who didn’t want to directly get their hands dirty called upon the

The Volstead Act was passed along with the Prohibition Act and further abolished liquor which did the exact opposite, intensify the degree of criminality. Sinclair claims that “Although no one was forbidden to buy or drink intoxicating liquor, the Volstead Act, passed by Congress to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment, tried to prevent the illegal trade in liquor” (Sinclair). The Volstead Act also known as the National Prohibition Act promoted the banishment of alcohol trade which was the spring of their finances. This act eventually failed because people were utterly against this prohibition of alcohol and engaged in illegal criminal activity. BBC stated that “It was difficult to enforce the Volstead Act. As gangsters started selling alcohol,

The Prohibition was the time period in which the 18th amendment was in order. The 18th amendment prohibited the sale, manufacturing, and transportation on intoxicating liquors. Many people were upset with this law but very few people listened to the law. This law caused many problems including bootlegging, organized crime, smuggling, and trafficking of alcohol. With all these problems the law caused more problems than it solved.

The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, declared on January 1920 at 12:01am, outlawed the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors,” (Andersen). America had become officially, dry. Although it was formed to stop drinking completely, it did not even come close. Just 6 minutes later six masked bandits with pistols emptied two freight cars full of whiskey from a rail yard in Chicago (Drink). Prohibition created a large number of bootleggers who were able to supply the public with illegal alcohol. They started the practices of organized crime that are still used today. Women, the driving factor in prohibition, believed that prohibition would make alcohol’s presence in society go away this would resolve the majority

Ratified on January 29, 1919, the 18th Amendment went into effect a year later. By that time, about thirty-three states had already enacted their own prohibition legislation. In October that same year, Congress had passed the National Prohibition Act. This provided guidelines for the federal enforcement of Prohibition. The Representative Andrew Volstead of Mississippi championed this. He was the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The legislation was more commonly known as the Volstead Act.

Because of the passing of the Volstead Act in 1920, production and distribution of alcohol became an extremely profitable business. With this also came a noticeable rise in organized crime in many of the big cities. Even worse, the crimes committed by members of these gangs became more violent. Soon prisons were overcrowded and were merely hold facilities.

The Volstead Act was the prohibition act and was passed on July 22, 1919. Even though many people disagreed with the Volstead Act, it was still passed. It was passed because Americans started to be concerned about the effects of drinking alcohol. For example, “Would stop husbands from spending all the family income on alcohol and prevent accidents in the workplace caused by workers who drank during lunch” (Rosenberg, 2017). This was one of the main reasons why the Volstead Act was passed, women hoped that their husbands would stop spending all their money on alcohol instead of spending it on something important like their family. Also, they were many accidents in factories because men would drink during their break, so they weren’t sober and that caused many accidents. Another reason was because when men were drunk sometimes they would hit their wives and children. Many people were against the Volstead Act, however many people were in favor of the Volstead Act, especially women. For instance, “Women played a strong role in the temperance movement, as alcohol was seen as a destructive force in families and marriages” (history.com). This explains that the main reason for women to be against alcohol was that they saw as if it was the main reason that their