Volstead Act
The Volstead Act, formally National Prohibition Act, reinforced the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. It was named for Andrew Volstead, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which oversaw its passage. However, Volstead served as the legislation's sponsor and facilitator rather than its author. It was the Anti-Saloon League's Wayne Wheeler who conceived and drafted the bill.
Procedure
While the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited the production, etc., of "intoxicating liquors", it did not define "intoxicating liquors". A statute would be needed to define the term and implement the Amendment. A bill to do so was introduced in Congress in 1919.
The bill was vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson (largely on technical grounds, because it also covered wartime prohibition) but his veto was overridden by the House on the same day, October 28, 1919, and by the Senate one day later.[1] The three distinct purposes of the Act were:
- to prohibit intoxicating beverages,
- to regulate the manufacture, production, use and sale of high-proof spirits for other than beverage purposes, and
- to ensure an ample supply of alcohol and promote its use in scientific research and in the development of fuel, dye and other lawful industries and practices, such as religious rituals.[2]
It provided further that "no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, or furnish any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act." It did not specifically prohibit the use of intoxicating liquors. The act defined intoxicating liquor as any beverage containing more than 0.5% alcohol and superseded all existing prohibition laws in effect in states that had such legislation. The combination of the Eighteenth Amendment and the laws passed under its authority became known simply as "Prohibition" and enormously affected United States society in the 1920s (popularly known as the Roaring Twenties) and thereafter.
Effects
The effects of Prohibition were largely unanticipated. Production, importation, and distribution of alcoholic beverages — once the province of legitimate business — were taken over by criminal gangs, which fought each other for market control in violent confrontations, including mass murder. Major gangsters, such as Omaha's Tom Dennison, and Chicago's Al Capone, became rich and were admired locally and nationally. Enforcement was difficult because the gangs became so rich they were often able to bribe underpaid and understaffed law-enforcement personnel and pay for expensive lawyers. Many citizens were sympathetic to bootleggers, and respectable citizens were lured by the romance of illegal speakeasies, also called "blind pigs". The loosening of social mores during the 1920s included popularizing the cocktail and the cocktail party among higher socio-economic groups. Those inclined to help authorities were often intimidated, even murdered. In several major cities — notably those that served as major points of liquor importation (including Chicago and Detroit) -- gangs wielded significant political power. A Michigan State Police raid on Detroit's Deutsches Haus once netted the mayor, the sheriff, and the local congressman.
Section 29 of the Act allowed 200 gallons (the equivalent of about 1000 750 ml bottles) of "non-intoxicating cider and fruit juice" to be made each year at home.[3] Initially "intoxicating" was defined as anything more than 0.5%,[4] but the Bureau of Internal Revenue soon struck that down[5] and this effectively legalized home wine-making.[3] For beer, however, the 0.5% limit remained until 1933. Some vineyards embraced the sale of grapes for making wine at home; Zinfandel grapes were popular among home winemakers living near the vineyards, but its tight bunches left their thin skins vulnerable to rot, due to rubbing and abrasion, on the long journey to East Coast markets.[6] The thick skins of Alicante Bouschet were less susceptible to rot, so this and similar varieties were widely planted for the home wine-making market.[6][7]
The Act contained a number of exceptions and exemptions; many of these became popular with people trying to avoid Prohibition without breaking the law. For example, the Act allowed a physician to prescribe whiskey for his patients, but limited the amount that could be prescribed. Subsequently, the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association voted to submit to Congress a bill to remove the limit on the amount of whiskey that could be prescribed and questioning the ability of a legislature to determine the therapeutic value of any substance.[8]
Repeal
Prohibition lost advocates as alcohol gained increasing social acceptance and as prohibition led to disrespect for the law and the growth of organized crime. By 1933, public opposition to prohibition had become overwhelming. In January of that year, Congress sought to preempt opposition[citation needed] with the Cullen-Harrison Act which legalized "3.2 beer" (i.e., beer 3.2% alcohol by weight or 4% by volume), and wines of similarly low alcohol content, rather than the 0.5% limit defined by the original Volstead Act.
Congress passed the Blaine Act, a proposed constitutional amendment to repeal Prohibition, in February. On December 5, 1933, Utah became the 36th state to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, rendered the Volstead Act unconstitutional, and restored control of alcohol to the states. The creation of the Federal Alcohol Administration in 1935 defined a modest role for the federal government with respect to alcohol and its taxation.
Notes and references
- ^ David Pietrusza, 1920: The Year of Six Presidents (NY: Carroll & Graf, 2007), 160
- ^ Subtitle of the Act, http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/wick/wick1.html National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement Report on the Enforcement of the Prohibition Laws of the United States Dated January 7, 1931 National Prohibition.
- ^ a b Pinney, Thomas (2005). A History of Wine in America From Prohibition to the Present. ISBN 978-0-520-24176-3.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) p. 2. Chapter 1 - ^ Fizz Water Time 6 August 1928.
- ^ ALLOWS HOME BREW OVER HALF PER CENT.; Internal Revenue Ruling Applies Only to Beverages Consumed in Domiciles. MUST BE NON-INTOXICATING Beer Not Included, and Only Cider and Fruit Juices May Be Sold. New York Times 25 July 1920.
- ^ a b Pinney p. 26.
- ^ H. Johnson Vintage: The Story of Wine p. 444. Simon and Schuster 1989 ISBN 0671687026.
- ^ "The A.M.A. and the Volstead Act", California and Western Medicine, 26:808 (1927). See also "Resolution in Regard to Volstead Act", Bull N Y Acad Med. 3(9):598-9 (1927).