How important was the volstead act?
It did the same thing as the war on drugs is doing now. Prohibition does not work. The Volstead Act, which reinforced the prohibition of alcohol in the United States of America, was popularly named after Andrew Volstead, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which 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 (largely on technical grounds, because it also covered wartime prohibition) but overridden by Congress on the same day, October 28, 1919. The 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 containing over 0.5% alcohol and sup
