1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:03,880 Speaker 1: Welcome to This Day in History Class from how Stuff 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: Works dot Com and from the desk of Stuff You 3 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:08,560 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore 4 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: the past one day at a time with a quick 5 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 1: look at what happened today in history. Hello, and welcome 6 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,480 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. Wilson, and it's January six. 7 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: The eighteenth Amendment to the U s Constitution was ratified 8 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: on this day in nineteen nine. Several states ratified the 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: amendment on that day, but it was Nebraska that gave 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,879 Speaker 1: the amendment the necessary thirty six states required to be ratified. 11 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: This followed an ongoing movement for prohibition. There were a 12 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 1: lot of concerns about drunkenness and crime, and a lot 13 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: of the most vocal and visible members of this movement 14 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 1: were women. A lot of them women who were personally 15 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:53,560 Speaker 1: affected by alcohol abuse. They were being physically or emotionally 16 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: abused by husbands who were drunk, or they were in 17 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: situations where their husbands weren't supporting the family because of 18 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: inc This was also connected to religion. The Second Great 19 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: Awakening had spurred religious revival all over the United States, 20 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:09,679 Speaker 1: and that led to an increase in the idea that 21 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: drinking was sinful. Individual states had started passing laws regulating 22 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 1: or prohibiting alcohol starting in eighteen thirty eight. Some of 23 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 1: the most famous people and organizations in this movement where 24 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti Saloon League. 25 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: There was also carry a Nation who became famous for 26 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:35,400 Speaker 1: smashing up saloons with a hatchet between the mid eighteen hundreds. 27 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: In the early nineteen teens, As this advocacy went on, 28 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: more and more states past laws prohibiting alcohol. It started 29 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: to become part of platforms when people ran for office. 30 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: Dry candidates supported prohibition while wet candidates opposed it. In 31 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: nineteen sixteen, dry candidates won a significant majority in the U. S. Congress, 32 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,120 Speaker 1: and they got to work writing a constitutional amendment. In 33 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen, that eighteenth Amendment passed both houses of Congress 34 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: and was sent to the states to ratify, which brings 35 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: us to January sixteenth of nineteen nineteen, when it was 36 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: ratified by the required thirty six states. Here is section 37 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: one of the amendment. Quote after one year from the 38 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 1: ratification of this article, the manufacturer, sale, or transportation of 39 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: intoxicating liquors within the importation thereof in two, or the 40 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject 41 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,359 Speaker 1: to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. 42 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: Section to quote, the Congress and the several States shall 43 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: have concurrent power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation. 44 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: And Section three give a deadline of seven years for 45 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: ratification by the States, so that the amendment can just 46 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: sit there forever, awaiting ratification if it did not get enough. 47 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: That legislation that was described in Section two came along 48 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: later in nineteen nineteen with the National Prohibition Act, also 49 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: known as the Volstead Act. Industrial medical, and sacramental uses 50 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: of alcohol were still allowed. That's why the molasses bath 51 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,200 Speaker 1: that we talked about yesterday was still necessary for making 52 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: industrial alcohol, but in almost all cases, alcohol for just 53 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: personal consumption was banned when prohibition went into effect the 54 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,679 Speaker 1: following year. Though it was a huge failure. It did 55 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 1: not reduce crime. It increased crime speakeasies, which were illegal 56 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: places to consume alcohol, sprouted up everywhere. Bootlegging, which was 57 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: already pretty popular for people who wanted to evade taxes, 58 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: became more widespread. Criminal enterprises formed to support the illegal 59 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 1: production of alcohol, and some of the most famous names 60 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: in organized crime were part of all this, including al Capone. 61 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: And because the alcohol was being produced illegally by people 62 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: who needed to get it done out from under the 63 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: watchful eye I have any law enforcement, the end result 64 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: was often dangerous or even poisonous. By the late nineteen twenties, 65 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:09,119 Speaker 1: people had started calling for a repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, 66 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: and then after the start of the Great Depression, these 67 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,119 Speaker 1: calls got a whole lot louder. The Twenty Feet Amendment 68 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,479 Speaker 1: repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and the legislation that had followed it, 69 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: and that was ratified in nineteen thirty three. That makes 70 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 1: the Eighteenth Amendment the only amendment to the U. S 71 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: Constitution that was successfully ratified but then later repealed. There 72 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: is more to this in a whole lot of episodes 73 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: from Stuff You Missed in History Class, including how Prohibition 74 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,360 Speaker 1: Works from December fifteenth, two thousand eight, A Brief History 75 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: of Moonshine from October, and a two parter on carry 76 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: a Nation on July seventeen. IF also talked about people 77 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: who tried to repeal prohibition, including Pauline Saban on February twelve. 78 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: Thanks to Casey Pegram and Chandler Mays for their audio 79 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: work on the show. You can subscribe to The Day 80 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:04,479 Speaker 1: in History Class on Apple podcast, Google podcast, the I 81 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, and where ever else you get podcasts. 82 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: Tune in tomorrow for the overthrow of one nation's last 83 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: and only queen.