Prohibition at 100: A Comprehensive and Annotated Federal Legislative History

Abstract

Abstract One hundred years ago, a national prohibition on alcohol became the law of the United States. Although the Eighteenth Amendment was both passed in Congress and ratified by the states very quickly, it was the culmination of a fight that had been going on for a century. The focus of this article is to detail a comprehensive federal legislative history for the twin pillars of Prohibition, the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act. In addition, the article examines the background story of the players, issues, and main events involved in the eventually successful, and then eventually unsuccessful, prohibition movement in America.