The 18th Amendment was one of the most controversial amendments to be ratified in the United States. What was it you ask? It was the Prohibition of Alcohol, also known as the Noble Experiment. In December of 1917, all 36 states approved the Volstead Act proposed by the Senate. The act was then ratified in January of 1919 and put into effect a whole year later as the 18th amendment. From 1920 to 1933 America was stripped of manufacturing, transporting, and selling any alcoholic beverages.
Even though the 18th amendment prohibited alcohol, the US government didn't do a very good job of making sure that alcohol didn't reach Americans. In New York City, there were over 30,000 speakeasy clubs in 1925.
Speakeasies were places that illegally sold alcohol to the public. The origin of the name "speakeasy" is said to come about in Pennsylvania in a saloon run by a woman named Kate Hester in 1888 after the ratification of the Brooks High-License Act. This act increased the fee of a saloon license from $50 to $500. Hester refused to pay the new fee, yet continued on with her business. To keep from drawing any attention to herself, she would tell reckless customers to "speak easy."
For all its faults, Prohibition was successful in reducing the consumption of liquor in the US. However, it did cause a widespread outbreak of crim
inal activity. It also became especially unpopular during the Great Depression.
Soon, prohibition in America came to an end in 1933 with the ratification of the Cullen-Harrison Act allowed manufacturers to produce and sell only certain kinds of alcohol. The act became the 21st amendment in December of 1933 that repealed the 18th amendment. Even after the 21st amendment, the amount of alcohol consumption never exceed the pre-Prohibition rates until the 1960's.
Today, the US government still prohibits distilled spirits (hard liquor) without meeting multiple licensing requirements.
Sure we can try to illuminate something we think is bad from a society, but somehow it always manages to find its way back into our lives. Prohibition, I believe, is an excellent example of that.
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Well done!