Why Is The 18th Amendment Important

The 18th amendment was January 16th, 1919 and took effect on January 17th 1920 to begin
prohibition. Prohibition was the ban to distribute, transport, or manufacture alcohol. Prohibition
was thought to bring many positive changes to the United States through the extreme limit of
alcohol but because quite of few problems instead.
Prohibition began right as World War 1 had ended, but in 1917 president Woodrow
WIlson had issued a temporary halt to the making of alcohol to save grain. This was done for
food purposes only, though when the 18th Amendment was drafted it received its ¾ vote in
Congress in only 11 months. Alcohol at this time was thought to cause many problems, such as
child abuse, failing families, crime, and bad work ethic. It was thought that banning alcohol
would help resolve many of these issues. Groups like the Anti­ Saloon league and people like

Henry Ford played a very important role in the passing of the 18th Amendment.
Although the ban of production, sale, and transportation of alcohol was thought to have
very positive impacts on the US, many of these predictions turned out to be incorrect. It was
thought that sales would increase in other areas of entertainment when Americans could not
buy alcohol, It did not result in this.

The economy was anticipated to continue thriving, many
people were left with no jobs with the shutdown of breweries and saloons. Many women
supported the 18th amendment because they had a suspicion it led to abuse and anger.
Although these suspicion may be correct there was a large black market for liquor throughout
the 1920’s.
Prohibition became know as “The National Experiment” and in 1933 the federal ban on
alcohol was lifted. Congress accepted the 21st amendment that would counteract the 18th.
Ending prohibition led to economic growth. A few states continued to practice forms of
prohibition but all had abandoned it by 1966.
Prohibition was a great experiment. It showed us the workings of the black market, and
the financial impact of alcohol. The 18th amendment lasted a little over a decade and had
measurable impact on America during the “roaring 20’s.” The federal ban on alcohol had many
probable reasonings, majority of these predictions were incorrect and had negative

effects.