Prohibition and Repeal 18th & 21st Amendments

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Prohibition

Prohibition was the eighteenth amendment. It prohibited the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages. People would have never thought of “excoriating” alcohol until the 19th century (Tyrrell 16). During this time widespread crime and dismay arose. Some beneficial things did come out of this period of chaos such as women were able to prove themselves as people their temperance movements. During this time many things happened that led to Prohibition’s strongest point and to its fall. Prohibition proved to be a failure from the start,. Prohibition was scarcely adhered to and also widely defied but out of this women had a chance to voice their opinions and prove themselves.

Article V deals with amendments. Either house or law makers can propose amendments. In order for an amendment to be passed the House of Representatives and the Senate must ratify by three quarters vote. On January 29, 1919, the Secretary of State announced that on January 16th thirty-six states had ratified the amendment and therefore it had become a part of the Constitution.

Temperance movements were vital keys to the ratification of the eighteenth amendment. Temperance at first meant abstaining from distilled liquors, but later would be the complete avoidance of alcohol. Both men and women would participate in temperance across the United States. Women finally had a voice in these issues. Women temperance movements would include gathering around saloons, pharmacies, and other places that distributed alcohol that could be consumed. In these gatherings women would sing prayers, recite psalms, and persuade people to avoid drinking alcohol.

Among the men of these temperance groups was a Connecticut preacher named Lymm Beecher. He was well known for his work with temperance movements. He was also known for his publishing, Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of intemperance. He was a pre-prohibition modern day Reverend Jonathon Edwards by “appealing to the deepest emotions and beliefs of his readers” (Lucas 24). Ironically he moved to Boston and worked with Reverend Justin Edwards to unite temperance groups.

Among the women of the temperance era, Francis Elizabeth Willard was probably one of the most important temperance leaders. She was born September 23, 1839 in New York. She first got her aversion towards alcohol by her father because he was a “total abstainer” (Lucas 32). Her interests in temperance grew when she heard stories of the Women’s Crusades in Ohio. She joined a team of crusaders in Pittsburg and later became the president of the Chicago branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

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