answer the questions in the ewritng style of  a8th grader Directions: Read and annotate the following primary source documents and answer all questions that follow along with them.  

The 18th Amendment (Modified) 
Source: United States Constitution 
Context: The US Senate passed the 18th Amendment on December 18,  1917. It was ratified on January 16, 1919, after 36 states approved it. The  18th Amendment, and the enforcement laws accompanying it, established  Prohibition of alcohol in the United States. Several states already had  Prohibition laws before this amendment. It was eventually repealed by the  21st Amendment on December 5, 1933. It is the only amendment that has  ever been completely repealed.  
Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the  manufacture, sale, transportation, importation or exportation of  intoxicating liquors in the United States and all its territory is hereby  prohibited. 
Section 2. The Congress and the States shall both have power to  enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 
Section 3. This article shall have no power unless it shall have been  ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the  States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the  date of the submission to the States by the Congress. 
Vocabulary 
To ratify—to confirm or pass something, such as an amendment 
Intoxicating liquors—alcohol  
Article—a section or item in a written document. Until enough states ratified this  amendment, it was known as an article.



Guiding Questions: 
1. What is your first reaction to the 18th amendment?







2. Do you think this amendment could be passed today? Why or why not?  




3. Why do you think some Americans in 1918 might have wanted this amendment?



 






Document A: Prohibition and Health (Modified) 
Alcohol poisons and kills; Abstinence and Prohibition save lives and  safeguard health. 
Dr. S.S. Goldwater, formerly Health Commissioner of New York City,  stated the decision of science, the final opinion of our nation after a  hundred years of education upon the subject of alcohol. 
“It is believed that less consumption of alcohol by the community  would mean less tuberculosis, less poverty, less dependency, less  pressure on our hospitals, asylums and jails.” 
“Alcohol hurts the tone of the muscles and lessens the product of  laborers; it worsens the skill and endurance of artists; it hurts  memory, increases industrial accidents, causes diseases of the heart,  liver, stomach and kidney, increases the death rate from pneumonia  and lessens the body’s natural immunity to disease.” 
Justice Harlan speaking for the United States Supreme Court, said: 
“We cannot shut out of view the fact that public health and public  safety may be harmed by the general use of alcohol.” 
Vocabulary  
Abstinence: Stopping yourself from doing something (e.g., drinking)
 Consumption: eating or drinking 



Source: Statement read at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the National  Temperance Council, Washington D.C., September 20, 1920. The National  Temperance Council was created in 1913 to work for Prohibition.



Document B: “Hooch Murder” Bill (Modified)  ‘Hooch Murder’ Bill Drafted by Anderson 
Anti-Saloon Head Aims to Reach Those Whose Drinks  Cause Death. 
William H. Anderson, State Superintendent of the Anti-Saloon  League, announced in a statement yesterday that the organization  would sponsor a measure at the upcoming State Legislature. The  measure would be known as the “Hooch Murder” bill. It says a person  can be tried for murder, and punished accordingly, if they are  suspected of selling alcohol that resulted in the death of the person  drinking it. Commenting on the measure, Mr. Anderson said: 
“This bill is intended for whoever it may hit, but it is especially directed  at the immoral foreigner, usually an alien, who had largely stopped  killing with a knife from hate or with a gun for hire, and has gone into  the preparation and thoughtless selling of poison for profit.”  
Vocabulary  
Hooch: slang term for alcohol, commonly used in the 1920s to refer to illegal  whiskey 
Alien: a foreigner who is not a citizen



Source: “Hooch Murder Bill Drafted by Anderson,” The New York Times,  November 14, 1922.






Document C: “Alcoholism and Degeneracy” 
Vocabulary  
Temperate: refraining from drinking alcohol 
Intemperate: drinking alcohol 
Degeneracy: being in decline; having qualities that are not normal or desirable


Source: Boston, MA and Westerville, Ohio: Scientific Temperance and American  Issue Publishing Company, 1913.


Document D: “Children in Misery”  

Source: Boston, MA and Westerville, Ohio: Scientific Temperance Federation  and American Issue Publishing Company, 1913.



Document A 
1. (Sourcing) When was this document written? Was this before or after the passage of  the 18th Amendment? 




2. Why might the National Temperance Council have met in 1920 (after the passage of  the 18th Amendment)? What do you predict they will say? 




3.(Close reading) What does the National Temperance Council claim is caused by alcohol?  




4. (Context) Do you find these claims convincing? Do you think people at the time found  these claims convincing? Explain. 



Document B 
1. (Sourcing) When was this document written? Was this before or after the passage of  the 18th Amendment? 




2. (Close reading) What is the “Hooch Murder Bill”?  



3. (Context) Based on this document, who is the Anti-Saloon League blaming for the  sale of alcohol during Prohibition? Why do you think they singled out this group?




Document C and D 
1. (Sourcing) When were these posters made? Was that before or after the passage of  the 18th Amendment? 




2. Who published these posters? What was their perspective? 




3. (Close reading) According to these posters, what are two reasons why Prohibition is a  good idea? 




4. (Close words) Look at the words used in Document C. These were considered  “scientific” categories. What does that tell you about science at this time?  




5. (Context) Using these posters, explain some of the beliefs about children that were  common in the early 20th century. Do you think these beliefs are silly or reasonable?  Explain.