Prohibition

In the early days of the nation, men drink cider and beer all day long and at nearly every occasion, from barn-raisings and baptisms to funerals and public hangings. But as hard whiskey becomes increasingly affordable and saloons turn more and more drunks into the gutter, America seems to have become a nation of drunkards.

On January 16, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution goes into effect, making it illegal to manufacture, transport or sell liquor. As millions of law-abiding Americans become lawbreakers overnight, enforcement of the new law is almost impossible. Americans brew their own brands of moonshine, beer, and wine. The Prohibitionists have their law and the people have their alcohol.

Somehow, even though the sale of alcohol is outlawed, by the late 1920s America has become the world’s largest importer of cocktail shakers. The hypocrisies and unintended consequences of Prohibition have become impossible to ignore. To many the law itself has come to be the greatest threat to American families. In 1933, the country has finally had enough and repeals the 18th Amendment.