Talk:Volstead Act
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[edit] Source
Hi Wham- Please note that the material in bold is from “Temperance Movement Groups and Leaders in the U.S.” With every word of this entry being from that page, it is clearly sourced from it and indicating so is not spam. To the contrary it is proper documentation. Thanks. David Justin 01:18, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
The Volstead Act (officially, the National Prohibition Act of 1919) was designed to provide for the implementation of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which established National Prohibition of alcoholic beverages.
The law was popularly named after congressman Andrew J. Volstead who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee that oversaw its passage. However, Volstead served as the legislation’s sponsor and facilitator rather than its author. It was the Anti-Saloon League’s Wayne Wheeler who conceived and drafted the bill.
The bill was vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson but overridden by Congress on the same day, October 28, 1919. The Volstead Act specified that “no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act.” It did not specifically prohibit the purchase or use of intoxicating liquors. The act defined intoxicating liquor as any beverage over 0.5% alcohol and superseded all existing prohibition laws in effect in states with such legislation.
In January of 1933, The Blair Act legalized "3.2 beer" (i.e., beer 3.2% alcohol by weight or 4% by volume). Ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and with it, both National Prohibition of alcohol and the Volstead Act in December of the same year.
[edit] Circular Link
I removed the link to National Prohibition Act, since it just redirects here. Would it be better for this article's text to be in that location itself, with Volstead Act redirecting there, since the National Prohibition Act was apparently the official name? Bassington 21:20, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Unrelated information.
Unless the Volstead act is responsible for Utah's restriction on beer with more than 3.2% ABW, I don't think it belongs here.
Removed text:
An interesting sidenote: Utah still prohibits the sale of beer with greater than a 3.2% alcohol content. We affectionately refer to it as "Utah Beer" and often drive to Colorado to buy "Real Beer", which we consume in that state. Transporting "Real Beer" into the state of Utah is still considered "Bootlegging".
Perhaps this should (once rewritten in a more encyclopedic tone) go under Prohibition or Utah? --Benjamin Geiger 18:41, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
From what I just read in this article, a lot of it needs to go to Prohibition in general. This article goes too far into the general effects of Prohibition on the nation. I think it needs to be revised to concentrate on the Act itself, maybe with more details about its wording and its specific history.--Donovan Ravenhull 13:25, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
