Constitutional Amendments and the End of the Progressive Era

What Act enforced the 18th Amendment

The Volstead Act/ National Prohibition Act of 1919

What did the 18th Amendment ban

The manufacture, sale, and transport of beverages with an alcohol content above 0.5 percent

When did the Volstead Act take effect

January 17, 1920

How did barrooms and hotels respond as soon as prohibition went into effect

The held mock funerals

Which movement pushed for prohibition

The temperance movement

Which groups carried out a long campaign against alcohol

Women’s Christian Temperance Union

Anti-Saloon League

How many states had “dry” counties by 1915

18

When did Congress pass a temporary wartime prohibition law

1918

Which congressman introduced the National Prohibition Act to make wartime prohibition permanent

Minnesota Congressman Andrew Volstead

How did President Wilson respond to the National Prohibition Act

He vetoed the bill because it was no longer defendable on the basis of emergency

How did alcohol consumption change the National Prohibition Act was passed

It dropped between 30-60%

How many people in the U.S lived in cities versus rural areas by 1927

66 million in cities, 52 million in rural areas

How did people continue to access alcohol

• Relied on homemade liquor distilled in bathtubs

• Exploited loopholes that provided medical and religious exemptions to the Volstead Act

• Speakeasies offered alcohol smuggled from Canada or the Caribbean

How did prohibition affect prisons

1/3 of the nation’s 12000 federal inmates were incarcerated for prohibition-related offenses and courts struggled to keep up with the overflowing docket

Which amendment repealed the 18th Amendment

The 21st Amendment

How did states respond to Prohibition

By 1927, 30 states had effectively defunded Prohibition by refusing to budget any money for its enforcement

Which amendment did prohibition mobilize support for

The 19th Amendment

When was the 19th Amendment ratified

August 18th, 1920, 42 years after it was first introduced to congress

What did the 19th Amendment do

Gave women the right to vote in the United States

Who was the first woman elected to national office

Jeannette Rankin as part of Montana’s House of Representatives in 1916

Who led the National Women’s Party

Alice Paul

What did the National Women’s Party do

Adopted the militant protest style of the British suffragettes and picketed outside the White House decrying the hypocrisy of “Kaiser Wilson” for fighting for democracy abroad while denying it to women at home

Why was Alice Paul criticized by other suffragettes

More moderate groups like the National American Woman Suffrage Association denounced the NWP’s protest as unpatriotic and unladylike

Who led the National American Woman Suffrage Association

Carrie Chapman Catt

How did the National American Woman Suffrage Association advocate for women’s suffrage

They stressed the loyal contributions of the “Woman’s Land Army of America” to the war effort

Why was Alice Paul arrested

Her and other members of the NWP chained themselves to the White House gates

How did Alice Paul respond to her arrest

She led her fellow prisoners on a hunger strike, prompting prison officials to force feed them using a tube

What caused President Wilson to shift course and publicly endorse the suffrage amendment

Public outrage over the brutal treatment of Alice Paul and others in prison

How many nations had given women the right to vote before the U.S

26

What percentage of eligible women cast a ballot in the 1920 election

35%

What percentage of eligible women voted in the 1924 election

34%

How many members did the NAWSA have at its peak

2 million

What happened with NAWSA’s successor organization, the League of Women Voters

By 1930, it only had 100,000 members, a 95% decline from the NAWSA’s peak

What did the NWP shift to after 1920

They pivoted to mobilize for an Equal Rights Amendment, an explicit constitutional guarantee against discrimination on the basis of sex

Why did the ERA fail

Opposition from the League of Women Voters who feared that it would erase gender-based legislation like mother’s pensions and laws protecting women workers

What did the Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act of 1921 do

Secured government funding to provide health care and other services to mothers and children

When did the Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act phase out

In 1929 when Congress halted appropriations to the program