What Was The Impact Of The 18th Amendment (1918-1919)

The eighteenth amendment officially became apart of the United States Constitution in January 16, 1919, which prohibited manufacture, sale, import and export of any intoxicating liquors. Temperance societies and Progressives pushed to change the society of America and the House of Representatives took notice and wanted to make a law to Prohibit the 18th amendment. The Eighteenth Amendment made a big impact during 1918-1919 which led to Gangster and organized crime.

The earliest settlers came from England with their intoxicating beverages which became very popular in the United States. Certain people used alcohol to relax, relieve stress, and to not feel pain. For an example, labor and farm workers used alcohol to relieve aches and pain from

(“The Volstead Act.” history.house.gov) Women’s Christian Temperance Union, Progressive reformers, and the anti-Saloon League were groups of citizens that wanted to make a change in their community, and they also became a powerful political force. Congress took notice and passed the 21st Amendment in 1933.”This amendment worked at first: liquor consumption dropped, arrests for drunkenness fell, and the price for illegal alcohol rose higher than the average worker could afford,” (“The Volstead Act” history.house.gov). These statistics show the decrease of illegal action dealing with alcohol. Despite the Volstead Act, the national government did not try to enforce it on every border, lake, river and speakeasy in America. Because of this, in New York there were more than 30,000 speakeasy clubs. Although prohibition worked at first, according to National Archives “the demand for alcohol was outweighing (and out-winning) the demand for sobriety,” (“The Volstead Act” history.house.gov). Prohibition made the crime rates rise and America became more ferocious because of the 21st Amendment.

The Volstead Act created a monumental alcohol problem in America, which led to abuse of alcohol, economic problems, youth learning problem, and crime problems. All of these problems still exist today and have had a big impact on communities for over 150 years. Children are born with liver problems because their

Women were now being called Flappers because of their short clothing, stylish black bobs, wearing heavy make-up, dancing, drinking, and smoking. “In 1890’s Britain, in fact,“flapper” described a very young prostitute, and after the turn of the century, it was used on both sides of the Atlantic for cheeky, prepubescent girls whose long braids, the New York Time reported, “flapped in the wind” (“The original “It Girl”, Web.b.ebscohost.com). This quote proves “Flappers” had a bad connotation, but then the word evolved across the world into showing freedom from a restricted lifestyle. “It was a form of youth rebellion, a project of liberation, and it didn’t go unnoticed.” (“How Flappers Rebelled Through Feminism And Consumerism”, bi.edu). Women evolved from being merely housewives to performing the same duties as the men. While men were in battle families were in need of consistent income, therefore the women took the role as provider as well as housewife. After world war 1 the men returned home from war expecting their jobs back, but the women refused to give up the jobs. Women then protested for equal opportunity to keep the jobs, because they felt like they could perform the same physical duties as the