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The 'Volstead Act' is the popular name for the 'National Prohibition Act' (1919). It enabled Federal enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which had banned the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" in the United States. The 'Volstead Act' also provided enabling legislation for the amendment, treating such matters as the definition of "intoxicating liquors", medicinal use, and criminal penalties.
The law was popularly named after Andrew Volstead, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversaw its passage. However, Volstead served as the legislation’s sponsor and facilitator rather than its author. It was the Anti-Saloon League’s Wayne Wheeler who conceived and drafted the bill.
The bill was vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson (largely on technical grounds, because it also covered wartime prohibition) but overridden by Congress on the same day, October 28, 1919. The Act specified that “no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act.” It did not specifically prohibit the purchase or use of intoxicating liquors. The act defined intoxicating liquor as any beverage over 0.5% alcohol and superseded all existing prohibition laws in effect in states with such legislation. The combination of the Eighteenth Amendment and the laws passed under its authority became known as simply "Prohibition" and enormously impacted United States society in the 1920's (popularly known as the Roaring Twenties).
The effects of Prohibition were largely unanticipated. Production, importation and distribution of alcoholic beverages -- once the province of legitimate business -- were taken over by criminal gangs, which fought each other for market control in violent confrontations, often including mass murder. (See, e.g., Al Capone.) The top gangsters became rich and were admired by many, effectively making murderers into national celebrities. Enforcement was difficult: the gangs became so rich that they were often able to bribe underpaid and understaffed law-enforcement personnel. Many citizens were sympathetic to bootleggers and respectable citizens were lured to the romance of illegal speakeasies (also called "blind pigs"). Those inclined to assist authorities were often intimidated, even murdered. In several major cities -- notably those which served as major point of liquor importation, such as Chicago and Detroit -- gangs wielded effective political power. (A state police raid on Detroit's Deutsches Haus once netted the mayor, the sheriff, and the local congressman.)
Prohibition also lost advocates as alcohol gained increasing social acceptance. The loosening of social mores during the 1920's included popularizing the cocktail and the cocktail party among higher socioeconomic groups.
By 1933, public opposition to prohibition had become overwhelming. In January 1933, Congress sought to preempt opposition with the Blair Act, which legalized "3.2 beer" (i.e., beer 3.2% alcohol by weight or 4% by volume), but it was insufficient. Congress proposed an amendment to repeal Prohibition in February and, on December 5, 1933, the nation ratified the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, made the Volstead Act unconstitutional, and restored control of alcohol to the states.
★ Temperance Movement Groups and Leaders in the U.S.
The law was popularly named after Andrew Volstead, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversaw its passage. However, Volstead served as the legislation’s sponsor and facilitator rather than its author. It was the Anti-Saloon League’s Wayne Wheeler who conceived and drafted the bill.
The bill was vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson (largely on technical grounds, because it also covered wartime prohibition) but overridden by Congress on the same day, October 28, 1919. The Act specified that “no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act.” It did not specifically prohibit the purchase or use of intoxicating liquors. The act defined intoxicating liquor as any beverage over 0.5% alcohol and superseded all existing prohibition laws in effect in states with such legislation. The combination of the Eighteenth Amendment and the laws passed under its authority became known as simply "Prohibition" and enormously impacted United States society in the 1920's (popularly known as the Roaring Twenties).
The effects of Prohibition were largely unanticipated. Production, importation and distribution of alcoholic beverages -- once the province of legitimate business -- were taken over by criminal gangs, which fought each other for market control in violent confrontations, often including mass murder. (See, e.g., Al Capone.) The top gangsters became rich and were admired by many, effectively making murderers into national celebrities. Enforcement was difficult: the gangs became so rich that they were often able to bribe underpaid and understaffed law-enforcement personnel. Many citizens were sympathetic to bootleggers and respectable citizens were lured to the romance of illegal speakeasies (also called "blind pigs"). Those inclined to assist authorities were often intimidated, even murdered. In several major cities -- notably those which served as major point of liquor importation, such as Chicago and Detroit -- gangs wielded effective political power. (A state police raid on Detroit's Deutsches Haus once netted the mayor, the sheriff, and the local congressman.)
Prohibition also lost advocates as alcohol gained increasing social acceptance. The loosening of social mores during the 1920's included popularizing the cocktail and the cocktail party among higher socioeconomic groups.
By 1933, public opposition to prohibition had become overwhelming. In January 1933, Congress sought to preempt opposition with the Blair Act, which legalized "3.2 beer" (i.e., beer 3.2% alcohol by weight or 4% by volume), but it was insufficient. Congress proposed an amendment to repeal Prohibition in February and, on December 5, 1933, the nation ratified the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, made the Volstead Act unconstitutional, and restored control of alcohol to the states.
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★ Temperance Movement Groups and Leaders in the U.S.
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