Civic Rights In The 18th Amendment To The United States Constitution

Improved Essays
One definition of civic rights includes the right from harm by another party. The Fourth amendment of the constitution guarantees citizens the right from intrusion by government agents, on a state or local level. Much of the law in criminal code has been written with the interest of extending the rights of citizens from harm by other citizens. This view of the right from harm has also informed the aforementioned Supreme Court Cases, Miller v. California (1973) and Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942). Following these cases, many appeals have been made to broaden the types of speech protected as free speech by the First Amendment, and the discussion of what constitutes a civilly responsible expression of the right to free speech continues to the …show more content…
This Amendment was the first to curtail the civic rights of the population in the name of civic responsibility. The main effect of alcohol prohibition, was an erosion of a sense of civic responsibility in regards to drinking customs, and the anarchy of the speak-easies took over. Realizing this mistake, an amendment reversing the 18th was past as the 21st Amendment, granting again the right to consume alcohol for adults over the age of twenty-one. Nevertheless, federal prohibition of substances Gradually extended to other substances that were once legal and often prescribed in professional medical practice. During the Drug War that was initiated by Henry Anslinger in the 1930s and has continued into the present decade, some government officials felt that the civic responsibility of public health necessitated an effort to regulate the types of substances consumed by individuals. To this end, a push to legislate against drugs culminated in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, the long title of which is "An Act to amend the Public Health Service Act and other laws to provide increased research into, and prevention of, drug abuse and drug dependence; to provide for treatment and rehabilitation of drug abusers and drug dependent persons; and to strengthen existing law enforcement authority in the field of drug abuse" (United States Government Publishing

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In 1920, the United State Congress ratified the 18th Amendment prohibiting the production, distribution, and sale of alcohol. The American people widely supported this amendment when it first went into action. The belief back then was that alcohol contributed to most of the personal and social problems such as the nation’s poverty, violence,…

    • 1250 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Prohibition of 1920s, the banning of selling and transporting alcohol, was enforced through the Volstead Act, which was actually so important because this failure revealed this fact that banning something can have the opposite effect which makes it more desirable. At first, The Anti-Saloon League and Woman's Christian Temperance Union began supporting the prohibition, which caused the rise of it, but as time passed, rising crimes showed that it was nothing but a failure. Since the prohibition didn’t really work, in early 1933 congress proposed the 21st Amendment to the constitution which repealed the 18th Amendment. One of the most important reasons of this failure was the creation of the Speakeasies and the Bootleggers; immediately,…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the case of Mapp v. Ohio 1961, the appellant, Dollree Mapp was convicted of possessing obscene materials. The conviction was made possible from the illegal police search of her home for a fugitive. Mapps appealed her conviction off the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment protects freedom of expression.…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    1919 Prohibition Dbq

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The 1919 Experiment known as the Prohibition “When the Mayor of Berlin, Gustav Boess, visited New York City in the fall of 1929, one of the questions he had for his host, Mayor James J. Walker, was when Prohibition was to go into effect. The problem was that Prohibition has already been the law of the United States for nearly a decade. That Boess had to ask tells you plenty about how well it was working” (PBS). Ironically in 1919 the eighteenth amendment was put into place for the benefit of society that make illegal “manufacture, sale, or transportation intoxicating liquors”. This ratification brought on many changes to American society.…

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    More specifically the 1930’s in America. As we all now around this time prohibition of alcohol was in full effect , but this didn 't meant that it was being a successful law. People were not very happy with the law and it was on its way of being removed. This affected the government a lot especially people in high ranks whose budgets would get cut if alcohol once again become legal. This can be shown with a man named Harry Jacob Anslinger , he was the united states government official who served as the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department 's Federal Bureau of Narcotics or “FBN”.…

    • 1510 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The consumption of alcohol was believed to be reckless and destructive, prohibition would reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, decrease the need for prisons and welfare, and improve health for all Americans. Congress assumed that by putting the 18th Amendment into effect it would solve all problems, and they were also being pushed heavily by temperance groups. They thought by appeasing these non-drinking advocates and bettering our country it would be a win win situation. The reaction to the amendment did not live up to the expectations thought of by Congressmen. It caused law enforcement to get their hands dirty with local gangs, drug smuggling, and more drinking then before.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The government put the 18th amendment into play because they thought it would lower the crime rates and help people with their everyday lives ( the 18th amendment banned the use, manufacturing, and selling of alcohol) ( "Prohibition). It made people who drank alcohol a lot want to drink it more and people who rarely drank it want to drink it more because they couldn't drink it anymore. After the 18th amendment was put into place this made more crimes and more manufacturing and production of alcohol because people couldn't drink it. Or could they. drinking alcohol was an everyday thing and some people could have been looking forward to drinking once they came of age.…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moments in history tend to stick out the most. Pearl Harbor, D-Day, 9/11, and Independence Day survive so prominently within our history as singular days. What made the twenties so notorious in our history? It was the first time our country saw a massive change in culture, ways of thinking, government policies, and the rise of organized crime.…

    • 1713 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    18th Amendment Essay

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages

    On January 16, 1920, the 18th Amendment was passed, setting off a rampage of angry Americans. Due to the Prohibition Act being passed, organized crime and the provision of sales of alcohol became more prevalent than before. The mob started making it’s mark soon after the act passed because no one wanted to listen to the authorities. So, the Mafia decided to start selling the illegal commodity. Throughout the essay we will cover how Prohibition came into action, how the gangsters provided the substance and where they did it without being caught, and finally organized crime and some of the big Mafia bosses.…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The 18th Amendment, which launched the Prohibition in January 1920, banned the making, selling, and transportation of alcoholic drinks. By 1930, ten million women were working for a paid job. These two changes in American life caused some people, specifically men for the latter change due to a fear of job competition, to wish to return to the good old days. 3. What group stood for 100% "Americanism" during the 1920's?…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Amendments are made to restrict political power and to ensure that the natural rights of citizens are protected. The first amendment, along with the Bill of Rights, was adopted on December 15, 1971 and since then 26 more amendments have been added to our Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment is one of the most known amendments and has been used in numerous court cases, such as Roe in 1973 when abortion became legal under the Fourteenth Amendment because the "Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action" includes "a right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy" and that "[t]his right of privacy . . . is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy”, but the courts have failed to produce a law that protects the rights of fathers in cases of abortions. One issue that many fathers face is that the mother of their child is not legally required to have their consent for an abortion.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This time period lasted from the years 1920-1933. The idea behind this amendment to the constitution was to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed in the United States (Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History 1066). The government viewed the amount of alcohol being consumed as a “bad temptation”, so they came to a decision to ban it altogether (Novels 75). The National Prohibition Party felt alcohol was a negative influence on family life and personal life also (Novels 73). This is because of alcohol’s affect on the brain and the way it impairs judgement and decisions made after the consumption of alcohol.…

    • 1588 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    War On Drugs Effects

    • 1275 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The War on Drugs directly impacts the life of almost every American. The program began as a fight against drug abuse and the spread of dangerous operations including and related to drug trafficking into American cities. Each new president, for the most part, has continued the programs of their predecessors. The naissance of the government’s anti-drug program began under the presidency of Richard Nixon. He set the ball in motion by classifying marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug and by directing his government agencies to target black social activists.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Every mass shooting that has happened in the past few years has brought up the controversial topic of gun control. Do we need gun control? Can we live without gun control? In Aurora, Colorado twelve people died in the movie theater shooting. In Newton, Connecticut twenty children were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    War On Drugs Failed

    • 2360 Words
    • 10 Pages

    (McVay, 2007) The federal government had no jurisdiction over illicit substances. These first laws were racist; they were to prevent perceived threats to white women by black, Mexican, and Chinese men drug users. From that point on the prohibition expanded; The Food and Drug act of 1906 required that all medications be labeled with the content, strength and the federal purity standards had to be met. Acts such as these, along with education efforts, allowed drug use to be reduced by a significant amount.(Otto, 1995)…

    • 2360 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays