Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution the Senate voted similarly the next day. The Volstead Act set the starting date for nationwide prohibition for January 17, 1920, which was the earliest date allowed by the 18th amendment. The act was conceived and introduced by Wayne Wheeler who was a leader of the Anti-Saloon League, a group which found alcohol responsible for almost all of society's problems, and were also responsible for many campaigns against the sale of alcohol. The law was also heavily supported by Judiciary Chairman at the time, Andrew Volstead from Minnesota and was named in his honor. The act in its written form
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