 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Gangsters, Tommy guns, Elliot Ness, and Al Capone. These images from the distant era of National Prohibition which began at 12:01 am on January 16, 1920, are still alive in our minds 84 years later. The origins of Prohibition are rooted in the "temperance associations" of the early 1800's, whose objections to alcohol were based primarily on religious grounds. However, as these groups' mastery of political manipulation grew, Prohibition became a purely political issue. In 1851 Maine became the first state to enact a statewide prohibition law. By 1903 more than one-thir of the U.S. population was living under a state or local prohibition law. In 1917, the Eighteenth Amendment, or the Prohibition Amendment as it was commonly called, is submitted to the states for ratification. The National Prohibition officially begins in 1920 with the passage of the Volstead Act, which makes illegal any beverage containing more than 1/2 of 1% of alcohol by volume. However, this non-alcoholic utopia wasn't meant to last. Public disobediance of the law rose quickly as tens of thousands of illicit "SPEAKEASIES" began opening. By the late 1920's, it was estimated that seven million gallons of "homebrew" were being produced annually. Crime rose exponentially, and events such the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in which seven "mobsters" were brutally gunned down in Chicago on orders from "Al Capone," reminded Americans of the price they paid for temperance. When the stock market crashed on October 17, 1929, Americans realized they needed the revenue and jobs the beer and liquor industries could provide. President Franklin Roosevelt, amid the devastation from the Great Depression, finally legalized beer on April 7, 1933, a day th became fondly known as "New Beer Day." Eight months later, on December 5, the Twenty-First Amendment was ratified, and officially and forever ended National Prohibition.
And while our government hasn't fully learned the lesson of utter failure that results from putting iron-clad resrtictions on our personal liberties (Patriot Act). We true-spirited Americans can rejoice in knowing that there will never again be a National Prohibition on alcohol in this country… (keep your fingers crossed, just in case…! ) |