Prohibition

National Prohibition
As under a spell, the people had suffered this act to be brought to its fatal conclusion, but with the first touch of cold reality—i.e. of Prohibition in practice—the charm was undone, and the law appeared in its true aspect—a monstrous reversion to the bogies of our historical infancy. (Monahan 82)

National Prohibition, brought about by the Eighteenth Amendment and enforced through the Volstead Act, lasted for over a decade. Despite a growing lack of public support for both Prohibition and temperance itself, the ban on alcohol continued throughout the United States—at least in the law books. In practice, however, National Prohibition was much less effective than temperance and Prohibition leaders had hoped, in the end causing more problems than it solved. Once enacted, Prohibition directly led to the increase in crime and corruption during the twenties, the public health problems associated with bootleg liquor and alcohol substitutes, the aggravated ...