Chicago Hermit John G. Curry

THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT It's the only amendment ever ratified and then thrown out entirely. And the law that enforced it was named after a congressman from Minnesota. 🍸 By the early 1900s, the temperance movement had spent decades fighting the saloon. Groups like the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League argued that alcohol was wrecking families, workplaces, and public health. Congress sent the amendment to the states on December 18, 1917. It banned the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors," but not drinking them or owning them privately. Ratification was completed fast. On January 16, 1919, the 36th state signed on, and the amendment gave the country one year to prepare. The nation went dry at midnight on January 17, 1920. The amendment didn't define "intoxicating," so Congress did. The National Prohibition Act, better known as the Volstead Act after Minnesota Rep. Andrew Volstead, set the rules and put the Treasury in charge of enforcement. President Woodrow Wilson vetoed it, and Congress overrode him on October 28, 1919. It also made history in a quieter way. It was the first amendment with a ratification deadline: seven years. In Dillon v. Gloss (1921), the Supreme Court said Congress can set a "reasonable" time limit, which is why so many later amendments have one. Enforcement proved hard. Bootlegging, speakeasies, and organized crime grew, and public support faded. On December 5, 1933, the Twenty-First Amendment repealed Prohibition, just under 14 years after it began. Its legacy is a lasting lesson about what the Constitution can and can't fix on its own, and a big reason alcohol rules today are mostly set by states. Do you think Prohibition failed because of the idea itself, or because of how it was enforced? 👇 #Constitution #EighteenthAmendment #Prohibition #History #Civics

Absolutely I agree. It’s a small but pretty intense distinction