Welcome U.S. History Students!!!
Today you will be exploring the history of U.S. Prohibition of Alcohol. The
prohibition of alcohol, 1920-1933, is one of the most interesting policy
experiments in U.S. history. Temperance movements waxed and waned in the
U.S. from early in the nineteenth century, and these movements produced
numerous state prohibitions. Many of these prohibitions were subsequently
repealed, however, and those that persisted were widely regarded as
ineffective. Amid the atmosphere created by World War I, support for
national prohibition reached critical mass, and the country ratified the
18th Amendment to the Constitution in January, 1919. Under this amendment
and the Volstead Act, which provided for the enforcement of Prohibition, the
manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol were prohibited by federal
law. The Amendment was popular for many years, but beginning in the late
1920s support began to erode. In 1933 the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th,
ending Prohibition.
