Explanation: In 1920, the USA passed a Constitutional Amendment - one of the most severe and difficult processes possible in our government, which establishes the highest law of the land, above all other court and legislative processes - to ban alcohol.
… it was such a disaster that, in 1933, we passed another Amendment to repeal the aforementioned Amendment.
The temperance movement wanted prohibition to be extremely difficult to repeal. They wanted abstinence from alcohol to be permanently enshrined in the legal and moral fabric of the nation.
At the time, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of federal powers was more narrow than today. Any such act of Congress was likely to face an uphill battle because it would be seen as regulating commerce, and such powers were supposed to be left up to the individual states.
Read somewhere that America really did have an alcohol problem pre-Prohibtion. Kinda like how we now view Russians. I got the impression that Prohibition somehow changed our drinking culture, dialed it in even after it was lifted. Know anything about that?
America still has an alcohol problem. It may have been worse back then, and it may not be as bad as some other countries today, but still. You can’t convince me there’s anything healthy about the drinking culture surrounding sports, college life, and all manner of special events.
Severe drinking was huge in many countries with a majority-christian european population at the time. The nordics had to spent considerable effort (state monopoly on alcohol and severe taxes, mostly) to dial it down.
Explanation: In 1920, the USA passed a Constitutional Amendment - one of the most severe and difficult processes possible in our government, which establishes the highest law of the land, above all other court and legislative processes - to ban alcohol.
… it was such a disaster that, in 1933, we passed another Amendment to repeal the aforementioned Amendment.
… one wonders what the fuck that was all about.
Why did they put prohibition on such a high legal level? It feels like an ordinary law would have been enough for this
The temperance movement wanted prohibition to be extremely difficult to repeal. They wanted abstinence from alcohol to be permanently enshrined in the legal and moral fabric of the nation.
At the time, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of federal powers was more narrow than today. Any such act of Congress was likely to face an uphill battle because it would be seen as regulating commerce, and such powers were supposed to be left up to the individual states.
Read somewhere that America really did have an alcohol problem pre-Prohibtion. Kinda like how we now view Russians. I got the impression that Prohibition somehow changed our drinking culture, dialed it in even after it was lifted. Know anything about that?
Going to give this a read right now:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1f2rdxh/was_alcoholism_that_bad_in_the_us_before/
EDIT: Only one solid response.
America still has an alcohol problem. It may have been worse back then, and it may not be as bad as some other countries today, but still. You can’t convince me there’s anything healthy about the drinking culture surrounding sports, college life, and all manner of special events.
I can only confirm that alcohol abuse was widespread in the early 20th century US. Not sure about the long-term effects of Prohibition.
Severe drinking was huge in many countries with a majority-christian european population at the time. The nordics had to spent considerable effort (state monopoly on alcohol and severe taxes, mostly) to dial it down.