93 years of corrupting the Constitution

Eighty years ago today, the 21st Amendment to the US constitution was ratified, ending alcohol prohibition in the United States.

The 18th Amendment, ratified on January 17, 1920, outlawed alcohol in the United States. The Amendment was enforced through the Volstead Act. One thing that I find interesting is the fact that Heroin and Cocaine were still perfectly legal during prohibition.

The Amendment was passed because  legal theories at the time said that the states were responsible for the law within their borders, while the Federal government only had jurisdiction over international affairs and interstate commerce. Thus, making liquor that stayed purely within a state's borders illegal at a Federal level was unconstitutional

At first, it seemed as though prohibition was working: liquor consumption dropped, arrests for drunkenness dropped, and the price of alcohol soon rose to a level that was more than the average worker could afford. Many people that had supported the Amendment initially were angered by the Amendment and had felt misled. They felt that the phrase "intoxicating liquors" would not include beer and wine, but the Volstead act defined the term to mean anything with more than 0.5% alcohol.

Just like today's war on drugs, the enforcement of alcohol prohibition granted many new powers to the Federal Government. Over the prohibition years, the Supreme Court modified its interpretations of the 4th, 5th, and 10th amendments in order to uphold the Volstead Act and interpret the enforcement power in the 18th amendment expansively.  The court allowed wiretaps without a warrant, allowed a person to be charged twice for the same crime under state and federal statutes, and allowed warrantless searches of motor vehicles – establishing the “reasonable suspicion” standard.

The law of supply and demand soon caught up with prohibition, and people that were willing to break the law to get beer were soon willing to break the law to get other liquors. Demand for alcohol soared, criminal enterprises began supplying it, and prices came down as supply increased. Criminal enterprises began competing for territory. It was not long before the problems of public drunkenness were replaced with organized crime, the corruption of police and courts, and widespread violence.

Many states eventually grew tired of the hassle. In fact, by 1925 six states had developed laws that prohibited police from enforcing the Volstead Act. Cities in the Midwest and Northeast were particularly uninterested in enforcing Prohibition. By 1928, 28 states had stopped enforcing the law. Juries began nullifying the law by refusing to convict people.

When confronted with what the people and the states believed to be federal overreach, the people responded with outright disobedience and jury nullification.  The cities and states nullified through sporadic or complete absence of enforcement.  As with the Whiskey Rebellion and resistance to the Federal Fugitive Slave Act, the federal government was unable to overcome the resistance and was eventually forced to repeal the detested intrusion.

 So you can see that the Prohibition era and the Temperance movement changed our Constitution and damaged our freedoms. It set the stage for the drug war, Obamacare, the NSA scandal, sobriety checkpoints, the TSA, and tons of other overreaches of Government power.

it seemed as though prohibition was not only a great idea, but that it was working. "The amendment worked at first, liquor consumption dropped, arrests for drunkenness fell, and the price for illegal alcohol rose higher than the average worker could afford. Alcohol consumption dropped by 30 percent and the United States Brewers' Association admitted that the consumption of hard liquor was off 50 percent during Prohibition." However, as time progressed, the statistics would change.

it seemed it seemed as though prohibition was not only a great idea, but that it was working. "The amendment worked at first, liquor consumption dropped, arrests for drunkenness fell, and the price for illegal alcohol rose higher than the average worker could afford. Alcohol consumption dropped by 30 percent and the United States Brewers' Association admitted that the consumption of hard liquor was off 50 percent during Prohibition." However, as time progressed, the statistics would change.as though prohibition was not only a great idea, but that it was working. "The amendment worked at first, liquor consumption dropped, arrests for drunkenness fell, and the price for illegal alcohol rose higher than the average worker could afford. Alcohol consumption dropped by 30 percent and the United States Brewers' Association admitted that the consumption of hard liquor was off 50 percent during Prohibition." However, as time progressed, the statistics would change.