18th and 19th Amendments

Lecture 3

Prohibition (Eighteenth Amendment)

• Eighteenth Amendment, 1919– changed alcohol laws from

state to federal authority– some states were wet and

some were dry before 1919

• Volstead Act, 1919– banned sale, transportation,

and manufacture of alcohol– allowed less than 3% alcohol

content and had a religious exception

Prohibition (Eighteenth Amendment)

Prohibition’s Legacy– alcohol was smuggled into the US

from Canada and Mexico– organized crime grew in wealth and

power– political officials and law

enforcement were bribed Attorney General sold liquor

licenses Harding drank at parties in the

White House– more acceptable for women to drink

in public• combination of speakeasies and

flapper culture

Prohibition (Eighteenth Amendment)

• Al Capone– most famous mafia leader based in Chicago– controlled bootlegging from Canada to

Florida• over 10,000 Chicago speakeasies

– incarcerated in 1932 for tax evasion and was put in Alcatraz

• died in 1950

• St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, 1929– Capone tried to wipe out his rival Bugsy

Moran• Murray the Hump, Jack “Machine Gun”

McGurn– 7 men were shot to death in the middle of the

day by mafia dressed up like the police– public outrage led to more pressure on

organized crime

Women’s Rights

• Nineteenth Amendment, 1920– women voters helped elect female

governors in WY and TX and the first female senator

• originally most female voters supported the Republican Party but today most support the Democrats

• Equal Rights Amendment, 1924 (ERA)– attempted to require equality under the

Constitution– most states require it today and it failed in

the 1970s• child custody, divorce, and equal pay were

still major issues• Gertrude Ederle swam the English Channel

in 1926 at the age of 21 (only 5 men had done it)

• she swam over 20 miles in just over 14 hours

Women’s Rights

• Changes in Employment for Women– some broke into journalism,

aviation, medicine, and the law– most women still worked in

domestic service and manufacturing

• The Flapper (The New Woman)– symbol of new feminine freedom– followed the same rules as men– shorter hair, shorter hemlines,

makeup