Today in Supreme Court History: January 16, 1919

1/16/1919: The 18th Amendment is ratified.

Comments

[Frank Drackman]

I'll drink to that!!!!

[SMP0328]

The 18th Amendment looks stupid enough when you read it, but it looks stupider when you look at what immediately preceded and succeeded it. The 17th Amendment and 19th Amendment expanded popular democracy; the former by having Senator elected by the people of each State (instead of by each State's legislature), the latter by expanding the franchise to women.

Tucked in between them is an amendment sponsored by people who thought all of America's problems would be solved if people couldn't drink alcohol. They closed prisons and jails based on the belief that no drunkenness meant no crime. They imagined everyone would comply with Prohibition because it was in the Constitution. The naïveté of this belief is shown when you remember that the South immediately tried to circumvent the 13th Amendment's ban on slavery (see "Black Codes"). Why would a ban on alcohol fare any better?

So that's my take on the stupidest amendment ever adopted. Anyone have a suggestion for an amendment that should be repealed, in whole or in part?

[Hugo S. Cunningham]

The 21st Amendment ( repealing the 18th) might been followed by this 21-A Amendment (I don't want to confuse it with tha real 22nd Amendment):
" This Constitution may not be amended to require restriction of a right of the people."
A future mandatory Constitutional prohibition like the l8th Amendment would be blocked, but Congress would retain the power to impose (or repeal) prohibition by statute. To impose another 18th Amendment required prohibition, Congress would first have to repeal Amendment 21-A.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

What would "a right of the people" entail?

Holding slaves was once deemed a "right of the people."

If the manufacture and sale of alcohol is a "right of the people," the term seems fairly open-ended. I'm inclined not amend the Constitution in such an open-ended way.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

all of America's problems would be solved if people couldn't drink alcohol.

The amendment spoke of "intoxicating liquors" and only covered "beverage purposes."

Some were surprised that it was applied as broadly as it was to alcoholic products with a limited amount of potency.

Anyway, people could drink it for religious and medical purposes. Mere possession wasn't covered, and it would be a long time before no one at all would be able to drink alcohol.

If people are going to call other people stupid, including for naivete, it might be useful not to sneer so much that they themselves come off as a bit dim.

Not only was not all drinking of alcohol prohibited, but it was also not seen as a utopian amendment. "All" of our problems would not be solved, any more than "all" of our problems would have been solved via the 19th Amendment. Many proponents had high hopes for that, including respecting equality, which still is not happening.

The amendment was ratified via a perfect storm of factors that combined progressivism, women's rights (alcoholism was a major problem for women reliant on those drunk husbands), nativism (certain immigrants liked to associate in bars), and so on.

Alcohol was already suppressed during World War I. And, some supporters also supported some good things. There weren't all a bunch of morons. Yes, on this issue, they were dumb.

==

Today is also National Religious Freedom Day, the 240th anniversary of the adoption of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Madison played a major role in its passage. It provides a window into his views on religious liberty. A significant piece of legislation that helped shape the First Amendment.

[SMP0328]

If people are going to call other people stupid, including for naivete, it might be useful not to sneer so much that they themselves come off as a bit dim.

I didn't know you were the champion of Prohibitionists. Do you think the 18th Amendment was not a stupid idea?

Not only was not all drinking of alcohol prohibited, but it was also not seen as a utopian amendment. "All" of our problems would not be solved, any more than "all" of our problems would have been solved via the 19th Amendment. Many proponents had high hopes for that, including respecting equality, which still is not happening.

Feminists thought Prohibition would end domestic violence, apparently believing that husbands would not beat wives if the former were not drunk. Law & Order types thought crime would drop dramatically, if not cease altogether. Business interests thought their employees would be better workers if alcohol was banned. They had high hopes for Prohibition. Most, if not all, of those hopes turned out to be unrealistic.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

"I didn't know you were the champion of Prohibitionists. Do you think the 18th Amendment was not a stupid idea."

I noted it was dumb.

If you stuck with "hopes turned out to be unrealistic" instead of talk of how it would "end" such and such and that they opposed "all drinking," etc., I would have been less critical.