Grant 1
Darby Grant
Professor White
POL 111
June 5, 2017
Midterm Exam
2. Identify two amendments to the United States Constitution that are NOT part of the Bill
of Rights (the first ten amendments), and explain the impact of each on government and
society.
Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and
sale of intoxicating liquors, this was driven by religious groups who considered alcohol,
specifically drunkenness, a threat to the nation. Prohibition proved difficult to enforce and failed
to have the intended effect of eliminating crime and other social problems–to the contrary, it led
to a rise in organized crime, as the bootlegging of alcohol became an ever-more lucrative
operation. In 1919, the National Prohibition Act–popularly known as the Volstead Act, after its
legislative sponsor, Representative Andrew J. Volstead of Minnesota–was enacted in order to
provide the government with the means of enforcing Prohibition. Loopholes in this act–such as
the fact that liquor used for medicinal, sacramental or industrial purposes remained legal, as did
fruit or grape beverages prepared at home. Under Prohibition, the illegal manufacture and sale of
liquor–known as “bootlegging”–occurred on a large scale across the United States. The negative
outcome to the prohibition created a platform for Democratic Presidential nominee Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s campaign, to repeal it. When President Roosevelt and took office, the 21st
Grant 2
Amendment was created and caused an end to Prohibition. Though then nation does enforce
prohibition any longer, some parts of America still attempt to enforce this social phenomenon.
My hometown of Ocean City, NJ is one out of thirty-five municipalities in New Jersey that still
enforce Prohibition and are considered to be “dry” towns. Though alcohol production,
consumption, and distribution is illegal and strictly enforced here, other parts of the country
implement these rules to the same degree or less as well, and not only Ocean City, NJ who was
founded by the Methodist Church, is a classic example of local government ruling their own
legislation.
When it comes to constitutional amendments, the 14th Amendment has played a big role
in moving society forward. The amendment answered the citizenship question for African-
Americans after the Civil War, with Section 1 stating: “All persons born or naturalized in the
