Prohibition Chemist Tests Bootleg Whiskey, 1920
Chemist G. F. Beyer of the Internal Revenue Bureau testing bootleg whiskey. Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide Constitutional ban on the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages that remained in place from 1920 to 1933. It was promoted by dry crusaders movement, led by rural Protestants and social Progressives in the Democratic and Republican parties, and was coordinated by the Anti-Saloon League. Prohibition was mandated under the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Enabling legislation, known as the Volstead Act, set down the rules for enforcing the ban and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. Private ownership and consumption of alcohol was not made illegal under federal law; however, in many areas local laws were more strict, with some states banning possession outright. Nationwide Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, on December 5, 1933. Photographed by the National Photo Company January 14, 1920
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Alcoholic Amendment Beverages Bootleg Booze Bureau Constitutional Illegal Internal Liquor Prohibition Revenue Temperance Volstead
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