What do you think about prohibition

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I recently watched a program about Prohibition, when I see that apparently did not work and they wanted to cancel the constitutional amendment which introduced the prohibition of many American lawyers that period was opposed because they thought that the revocating of the constitutional amendment is a bad precedent , i wonder why they thought that way?

Prohibition(The Volstead Act) was promoted by the "dry" crusaders, a movement led by rural Protestants and social Progressives in the Democratic and Republican parties, and was coordinated by the Anti-Saloon League, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.The purpose of the WCTU was to create a "sober and pure world" by abstinence, purity and evangelical Christianity. The Ku Klux Klan were big supporters of Prohibition.Historians agree that the Klan's resurgence in the 1920s was aided by the national debate over Prohibition. Today, there are still more than 200 "dry" counties nationwide with what most would consider excessively stringent liquor laws

But why the Americans law makers in 30's was so opposed the revocation of this constitutional amendment which introduced prohibition. As if what was written in the constitution was sacred and możw no longer be subject to any modification

The alliance between the church, Anti Saloon League and the Ku Klux Klan that was crucial both to enacting Prohibition and the maintaining it for thirteen years. This law created organized crime in the cities(through speak easies and jazz clubs) in the North and a upsurge of membership of the KKK in the nation and South. The best known bootlegger during this period was Joseph Kennedy, father of John F. Kennedy. Joe Kennedy was awarded to an ambassadorship to Britain from 1938-1940. Most of "dry" counties today are in the South. The Volstead Act was repealed because of tax reasons and the revenue it would produce.

Last edited by frenchmanflats on 21 Dec 2015, 4:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

It seems that the initiators of the prohibition counted on was that ordinary citizens will meekly obey the new law, but they miscalculated, because it ended up that the mafia and smugglers have been doing on the big money, and the American treasury does not have any profit from this, so money talks or as Caesar Vespasian used to say "Pecunia non olet"

So they legalized it again

But i wonder why proponents of Prohibition not anticipated that it would be work.

The proponents did not realize that people liked to drink. People were making gin in their bathtub with deadly consequenses.As gin was the predominant drink in the 1920s, many variations were created by mixing cheap grain alcohol with water and flavorings and other agents.. Because the preferred sort of bottle was too tall to be topped off with water from a sink, they were filled from a bathtub tap. But Prohibition did create the "Jazz Age" in the North which the KKK greatly despised in the South and other parts of America.

The Nazis hated the "Jazz Age" They called it "negro music". This was a term used by the Nazis during the Third Reich to signify musical styles and performances by African-Americans that were of the Jazz and Swing music genres coming from America(in particular New York City) in the 1920s. Secondly, the Jazz music was popular in Berlin. Jazz music was offensive to Nazi ideology, because it was often performed by blacks and a number of Jewish musicians. The Swing Kids gave the impression of being apolitical, similar to their zoot suiter counterparts in North America.

Last edited by frenchmanflats on 21 Dec 2015, 5:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

A bad idea. I don't drink, but I know you that couldn't convince every drinking American to suddenly stop doing it cold Turkey. Law or no law. Millions of Americans become criminals overnight. Some people started drinking just to spite Prohibition. They were saying: "Who are you to tell me how to live my life?"

Franklin Roosevelt became President of the United States on the promise of repealing Prohibition and it was.

Kyle,

You are correct The Volstead act was poorly enforced and I think that one of the reasons why Roosevelt repealed it because the amount of tax revenue it would produce going into the Federal coffers instead of the bootleggers coffers. There was a lot of money to be made by taxing and regulating it.The more people drinking is more money in the pockets of wine and spirits and the taxes Uncle Sam collects. Also there was an economic Depression in the 1930s and the government was looking for any source of revenue. It also took the criminal element away. At least Joe Kennedy was rewarded by bootlegging in the 1920s by becoming an ambassador to Great Britain in the late 1930s.

No one has actually answered his question. Which is "why did some folks oppose repeal of Prohibition for the particular reason that it was somehow wrong to amend the Constitution?".

I wasnt aware that that particular issue was an issue, but it might have been. So I will try to answer the question.


The Constitution is sacred, but secular, American scripture. The set of uber laws that govern the other laws.

So that is why it is hard to amend the Constitution. It takes a two thirds majority of Congress, and each state has ratify it.

So you you dont change the Constitution lightly. And you CANT change it lightly-it designed to be hard to do.

I am not aware that folks opposed repealing Prohibition on strictly Constitutional grounds- but if they did it was probably because they felt it was too soon in time repeal an amendment to the Constitution. The repeal of Prohibition was only 14 years after its enactment. Maybe they were afraid the Nation would go amendment-happy and would start changing the Constitution every other week (as they do in Banana Republics),but as I said above amending the Constitution isnt very easy- and its designed to be that way- so what was the worry?. It was probably a BS argument used by opponents of repeal. Defenders of both Nixon, and Clinton, used a similar argument against impeachment because they claimed to be worried that "impeachment will become a habit". They didnt go through with impeachment with Nixon, but they did with Clinton (but Clinton survived in office). Before Clinton only Andrew Johnson had ever been impeached- and that was over 100 years earlier- once a century is not exactly a "habit".

The 1919 Volstead act was the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, and its repeal was the 21st amendment in 1933. It was "only" 14 years later-which is a short time for a change to the Constitution. But 14 years was more than sufficient time to show that the law didnt work. Many original proponents admitted that it didnt work and that it had unintended bad consequences (like putting the mafia on the map). Also the Depression had started in 1929, and there was economic pressure to bring back a legal liquor industry to employ, and to help farmers, and to bring back local tax revenues. So today there is a bar on Capitol Hill called "the Twenty First Amendment" in honor of the repeal of Prohibition.

I made that point that once repealed it produced tax revenue for Uncle Sam. The more people drink the more money the Federal Government receives. This includes the wine and spirits companies.

I'm quite fond of the protest song sung by the "Atlantic City Women's Temperance League", it's so catchy.

Stand up for prohibition
Ye patriots of the land
For ye who love your country
Against the drink should stand
Behold against this traffic
Your countries greatest foe
Let word and deed and ballot proclaim that drink must go.

Last edited by Idealist on 21 Dec 2015, 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Probably because those particular law makers still agreed with prohibition even though it was not workingg, is why they were opposed to revoking the amendment. But I don't know for sure just a guess.

it was stupid, completely ineffective, and gave rise to have wave of organized crime. Making something against the law doesn't eliminate demand. This didn't work with alcohol nor does it with other drugs, addiction is a health issue not a criminal one.

Because such things as freedom of speech, which doesn't truly exist (because you're only free to tell people stuff they want to hear, whereas you're punished if you say anything they don't like to hear. This is the "customer is always right" generation, where everyone thinks in terms of them being a customer in everything. Marriage, friends, etc. There is not "iron sharpens iron" type conversations allowed, there is nothing that isn't crappy go lucky now that everyone is into self gratification at the expense of others.) Prohibition was stupid, it's building a mile high fence for something that is stupid and unwise but not a sin. Still, the setting a bad precedent problem is an issue that made sense because it threatened the other constitutional rights that don't really exist in practice but still do on paper.

I once watched German movie "Swing kids" about Swing subculture in Nazi Germany, about young open minded Kids, but this attitude was not liked in Nazi Germany