by Augustine Bauer

Created on: December 24, 2009   Last Updated: January 15, 2010

            The Eighteenth Amendment, passed in 1919, forbade the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States…for beverage purposes.”[1] The Women’s Christian Temperance Union and other organizations hoped to protect women and children from the effects of drunkenness with the passage of this amendment. However, there were several loopholes in the wording of the amendment which would cause it to back fire and cause a rise in crime and loose morals.

             The first obvious problem with the amendment was that, while it banned the ‘manufacture, sale’ and ‘transportation’ of alcohol, it failed to outlaw its possession or use. Organizations with a stockpile of liquor could continue to serve it legally as long as they kept it in one place and did not charge for it.

             Neither did the amendment mention water under the jurisdiction of the United States. Alcohol could legally be served on ships three miles from the shore. Many, including state owned shipping lines, took advantage of this detail.

             The wording at the end of Section 1 of the amendment- ‘for beverage purposes’- also presented many with an opportunity to obtain alcohol. Doctors could legally prescribe whiskey to treat colds and other ailments. After the passage of the eighteenth amendment the amount of patients requesting prescriptions for whiskey increased suspiciously. On the whole, doctors prescribed liberally and drug stores filled prescriptions without question.

             The real draw back to prohibition, however, was that it encouraged organized crime and so called ‘gangsters’, providing them with an easy income. Bootlegging, the practice of illegally producing and conveying alcohol, or moonshine, was carried out by many normal and harmless individuals. However, not everyone who made there living from bootlegging was so innocent. Al Capone, for example, made a large amount of money from the activity.

             The government began to loose control. The masses had lost a lot of respect for the body that had forced prohibition. It also became quickly clear that the government could not enforce the law it had passed- even President Harding had a stock of moonshine at the White House! Criminals became more sure of themselves as it became clear they would not be punished, and the public lost trust in its government. 

             Franklin D. Roosvelt and the Democratic Party ran on a platform that included the revoking of the Eighteenth Amendment in the 1932 election year. In 1933 the Twenty-First Amendment repealed prohibition.

[1] Constitution of the United States, Eighteenth Amendment, Section 1

Learn more about this author, Augustine Bauer.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.