Association Against the Prohibition Amendment Association Against the Prohibition Amendment The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment was established in 1918 and became a leading organization working for the repeal of prohibition in the United States. It was the first group created to fight Prohibition, also known as the 18th Amendment. The group was officially incorporated on December 31, 1920. Its activities consisted of meetings, protests, and distribution of informational pamphlets and it operated solely upon voluntary financial contribution. Due to low amount of financial contributions, the Association was largely stagnant until prominent members joined in the mid-1920s. Although the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA)
Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution the Constitution had ushered in a period known as Prohibition, during which the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal. Passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919 was the crowning achievement of the temperance movement, but it soon proved highly unpopular. Crime rates soared under Prohibition as gangsters, such as Chicago's Al Capone, became rich from a profitable, often violent black market for alcohol. The federal government was incapable of stemming the tide: enforcement of the Volstead Act proved to be a nearly impossible task and corruption was rife among law enforcement agencies. In 1932, wealthy industrialist John