The Eighteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution made the production, distribution, and consumption of alcoholic beverages a federal crime. The crusade against alcohol began in the 19th century, spearheaded by the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League, and it gained momentum in the first decade of the 20th century, when the Progressive movement adopted it as a plank in their platform. Aside from those who supported Prohibition for religious or moral reasons, there were some powerful people with less altruistic motives. Henry Ford, Andrew Carneigie, and other industrial leaders were convinced that it would increase worker productivity. The amendment was submitted for ratification by the states (a two-thirds majority being necessary), which was secured by 1919. Congress then passed the Volstead Act, designed to ensure enforcement of the new law.

The amendment proved to verify the proverb that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Instead of producing an abstemious, religious, and sober society, Prohibition fostered a lack of respect for law and created an angry divide between the citizens of large urban areas and those in small towns. More important, it abetted one of 20th-century America's most unfortunate developments, organized crime. From the very beginning, gangsters were conscious of the potential profits to be reaped from smuggling or manufacturing liquor. Smugglers had little fear of capture since they were operating on coastlines thousands of miles long. In addition to the imported variety of liquor, there was also the homegrown version, bathtub gin. Speakeasies sprang up everywhere, featuring not just liquor, but the equally intoxicating new musical form known as jazz. The reaction to Prohibition produced a wide range of social and cultural changes, summarized in the term Jazz Age.

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