jan 1, 1919 - Ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment/Volstead Act
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In 1919, Congress ratified the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This Amendment, "called for the prohibition of the manufacture, sale, transportation, importation, and exportation of 'intoxicating liquors' for 'beverage purposes' within, into, and from the United States and its territories" (Goode, 39). In 1920, the law went into effect and became referred to as the Volstead Act. This Act banned all beverages with a content of .5% alcohol or higher. The federal government had the power to enforce this law.
The passing of the Volstead Act truly signified, "the triumph of Protestants over Catholics, native-born Americans over immigrants, rural and small-town dwellers over urban residents, the South over the North, Anglo-Saxons over ethnics from southern and Eastern Europe, farmers and the middle class over the working class, Republicans over (non-southern) Democrats" (Goode, 39).
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