U.S.-History-Sourcebook---Basic

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

http://www.ck12.org Chapter 8. World War I


8.4 Prohibition


Since the founding of the republic, some Americans advocated temperanceon the consumption of alcohol. Tem-
perance organizations formed and then unified into the American Temperance Union in 1833. In the early 20th
century, the cause morphed into the Prohibition movement, which had the support of diverse constituencies including
Progressives, many southerners and women, pietist Protestant denominations (for example, Methodists), and the Ku
Klux Klan. The 18thAmendment to the Constitution passed in 1919, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and transport
of alcohol. It was repealed in 1933. The documents below include the 18thAmendment, several prohibitionist
posters, and an article from the New York Times. Read these documents to find out what problems some people saw
in society and why they favored Prohibition.


The 18th Amendment


Source: The United States Constitution.


Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall both have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.


Section 3. This article shall have no power unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution
by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the
submission to the States by the Congress.


The US Senate passed the 18 thAmendment on December 18, 1917. It was ratified on January 16, 1919, after 36
states approved it. The 18 thAmendment, and the enforcement laws accompanying it, established Prohibition of
alcohol in the United States. Several states already had Prohibition laws before this amendment. It was eventually
repealed by the 21 stAmendment on December 5, 1933. It is the only amendment that has ever been completely
repealed.


Section 1. After one year from theratificationof thisarticlethe manufacture, sale, transportation, importation or
exportation ofintoxicating liquorsin the United States and all its territory is hereby prohibited.


Vocabulary


To ratify
to confirm or pass something, such as an amendment

Intoxicating liquors
alcohol

Article
a section or item in a written document. Until enough states ratified this amendment, it was known as an
article.
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