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18th Amendment Facts & Worksheets

The ratification of the 18th Amendment was brought upon by the decades of effort of the temperance movement and Anti-Saloon League, groups supporting the prohibition of liquor sale, production, and consumption, aiming to heal society.

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Attempts to ban the trade of alcoholic beverages in the United States began as early as the 19th century under the notion that alcohol could be attributed to physical abuse, crime, immorality, and basically all of society’s ills. By the 20th century, the 18th Amendment was made to the US Constitution for the Prohibition of Liquor. An amendment is an alteration or addition made to a constitution, statute, legislative bill, or resolution.
The ratification of the 18th Amendment was brought upon by the decades of effort of the temperance movement and Anti-Saloon League, groups supporting the prohibition of liquor sale, production, and consumption, aiming to heal society. This era became known as the Prohibition, and ended when the 21st Amendment was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment.

See the fact file below for more information on the 18th Amendment or alternatively, you can download our 24-page 18th Amendment worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT

  • The temperance movement aimed to promote complete abstinence from intoxicating liquor. Being heavily religiously motivated, the movement spread rapidly in the United States, beginning within Christian churches in 1800.
  • Beginning around 1906, the Anti-Saloon League (ASL), a group inspired by the movement, helped implement the prohibition through speeches, advertisements, and demonstrations in saloons and bars.
  • The ASL advocated that eliminating alcohol from society would also eliminate poverty and social vices.

THE VOLSTEAD ACT

  • 23 of 48 states had passed anti-saloon legislation by 1916, some of them even going further by prohibiting the manufacture of alcoholic beverages.
  • In December 1917, the 18th Amendment passed both houses of the Congress, and was ratified on January 29, 1919. The amendment prohibited the manufacturing, transportation, and sale of alcohol within the country, and would take effect the next January.
  • The National Prohibition Act, better known as the Volstead Act, was enacted in 1919 to further enforce Prohibition.
  • The act was vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson, but the Congress voted to override the veto, and it became law. All the states enacted laws according to the Volstead Act.
  • Many governors neglected to exert effort towards enforcing the alcohol ban. Maryland became known for being one of the most stubborn anti-Prohibition states for never enacting any enforcement code.

CONTENTS OF THE 18TH AMENDMENT

  • The full text of the amendment states:
    • “After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all the territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
    • The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
    • This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.”

LOOPHOLES IN THE AMENDMENT

  • The 18th Amendment banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor, but not its consumption or possession. People who were able to stash liquor in their homes were free to enjoy it.
  • Sacramental wine was not banned for religious purposes. The number of questionable rabbis and priests increased during this time.
  • Drug stores sold “medicinal whiskey”; with a doctor’s prescription, one could acquire a pint of hard liquor every ten days. The number of pharmacists registered in New York tripled during the Prohibition era.
  • This may have led to the increase of speakeasies, unlicensed barrooms, operating under the guise of being pharmacies. New York alone may have been home to more than 30,000 speakeasies.

BOOTLEGGING

  • “Bootlegging”, the illegal sale of alcohol, prevailed during the Prohibition. Bootleggers produced “bathtub gin” and rotgut moonshine.
  • Some of them contained industrial alcohol, which was originally used in fuels and medical supplies.
  • As a solution, the government required companies to add quinine, methyl, alcohol, and other toxic chemicals to discourage people from buying alcohol. However, this was ineffective in deterring buyers and bootleggers.
  • The New York Times reported on December 26, 1922 that five people died in New York on Christmas Day after drinking “poisoned rum”.
  • According to Prohibition by Edward Behr, hundreds of thousands suffered from irreversible injuries caused by drinking the poisoned alcohol, such as blindness and paralysis, and 750 New Yorkers had died by 1926.
  • 41 people died at New York’s Bellevue Hospital from alcohol-related poisoning on New Year’s Day, 1927.
  • Until the 18th Amendment’s repeal in 1933, people continued to drink the intentionally contaminated alcohol. This may have led to the death of more than 10,000 people.

CORRUPTION AND HYPOCRISY

  • Politicians continued to drink while everyday people were charged. President Warren G. Harding, despite public support to Prohibition, stocked the White House with whiskey for his poker nights; a prominent bootlegger also revealed that he had supplied about two-thirds of the Congress with liquor.
  • Harding gained the reputation of giving influential positions to members of his cabinet who were his personal acquaintances. Members of the Ohio Gang, a group comprised of people in power during Harding’s term, were charged and imprisoned for corruption after Harding’s death.
  • Prohibition agents and police officers were often tempted by bribes, or by the opportunity to be involved in bootlegging themselves.
  • During Prohibition, there were gangsters in every city managing bootleg business, and their groups would fight each other over control of specific areas. Famous gangsters such as Al Capone found profit in the illegal liquor trade.
  • At the time, Capone used to make as much as $100 million a year, and spent half a million dollars in bribes to police, politicians, and federal investigators.
  • Gangs began by offering protection to speakeasies from rival gangs and paying off police or politicians to look away. Speakeasies were supplied by organized
  • crime syndicates with large quantities of beer and liquor, smuggling alcohol using rivers and waterways.
  • The climax of gangster wars between Al Capone and Bugs Moran was the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929, where seven of Moran’s men were shot dead in Chicago. The murders encouraged the country to call for the repeal of Prohibition.
  • After its repeal in 1933, organized crime was forced to find profit in other ways. Organized crime groups that were notorious in Prohibition still remain today, but they only earn a small amount compared to what they used to from bootlegging.

ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES

  • The 18th Amendment did not curb the sale, production, and consumption of alcohol. Organized crime flourished and tax revenues decreased. The closure of saloons, distilleries, and breweries led to the unemployment of many.
  • Before Prohibition, a lot of states used to rely on excise taxes in liquor sales for their budgets. As Prohibition took effect, it lost the government a total of $11 billion in tax revenue and cost more than $300 million to enforce.
  • Some argued that legalizing alcohol would provide the needed jobs and tax revenue, as the Prohibition had forced many employees out of their jobs supplied by what used to be the fifth largest industry in the US. By 1931, 6 million Americans were unemployed.

CALL FOR THE END OF PROHIBITION

  • Soon, with the increase of unemployment, crime, and deaths caused by Prohibition, it became obvious that it had not achieved its goal in eliminating alcohol abuse, and only intensified it.
  • In 1932, presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt called for· the repeal of the 18th Amendment during his campaign. His election ushered in the end of the Prohibition.
  • Certain states continued the liquor ban despite its repeal; Kansas remained dry until 1948, Oklahoma remained alcohol free until 1959, and Mississippi only lifted the ban in 1966.
  • Today, 10 states still contain counties where the sale of alcohol is prohibited.

18th Amendment Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the 18th Amendment across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use 18th Amendment worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the attempts to ban the trade of alcoholic beverages in the United States which began as early as the 19th century under the notion that alcohol could be attributed to physical abuse, crime, immorality, and basically all of society’s ills. By the 20th century, the 18th Amendment was made to the US Constitution for the Prohibition of Liquor. An amendment is an alteration or addition made to a constitution, statute, legislative bill, or resolution.
The ratification of the 18th Amendment was brought upon by the decades of effort of the temperance movement and Anti-Saloon League, groups supporting the prohibition of liquor sale, production, and consumption, aiming to heal society. This era became known as the Prohibition, and ended when the 21st Amendment was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • The 18th Amendment Fact File
  • A Closer Look
  • An Escape
  • Memory Lane
  • Prohibition Puzzle
  • Religiously Political
  • The Alcohol Chain
  • The Drink of Shame
  • Carrie Me!
  • Language Games
  • Histo(rypeat)

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Link will appear as 18th Amendment Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, September 2, 2020

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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