The vote was 65 to 20, with the Democrats voting 36 in favor and 12 in opposition; and the Republicans voting 29 in favor and 8 in opposition. The House of Representatives passed a revised resolution on December 17, 1917.

The Temperance Movement was an organized effort during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to limit or outlaw the consumption and production of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Temperance advocates encouraged their fellow Americans to reduce the amount of alcohol that they consumed.

Temperance movement, movement dedicated to promoting moderation and, more often, complete abstinence in the use of intoxicating liquor (see alcohol consumption). The movement spread rapidly under the influence of the churches; by 1833 there were 6,000 local societies in several U.S. states.

The movement to prohibit alcoholic beverages had been underway for a century, led by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League. These groups formed a powerful single-issue coalition that relentlessly lobbied local, state, and federal governments.

The platform of the party today is progressive in that it supports environmental stewardship, animal rights, and free education, but is conservative on social issues, such as supporting temperance and advocating for a consistent life ethic.

During Wilson’s eight years as president, Congress passed two constitutional amendments: prohibition (18th); and women’s suffrage (19th). Wilson vetoed the Volstead Act, the law that put the 18th amendment into practice, believing it to be unenforceable; but the law was passed over his veto.

Prohibition was a nationwide ban on the sale and import of alcoholic beverages that lasted from 1920 to 1933. Prohibition led directly to the rise of organized crime. The Twenty-first Amendment, ratified in December 1933, repealed Prohibition.

The bill was vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson on October 27, 1919, largely on technical grounds because it also covered wartime prohibition, but his veto was overridden by the House on the same day and by the Senate one day later.

Volstead Act, formally National Prohibition Act, U.S. law enacted in 1919 (and taking effect in 1920) to provide enforcement for the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. Woodrow Wilson, but it became law after Congress voted to override the veto.

In January 1919, the 18th amendment achieved the necessary two-thirds majority of state ratification, and prohibition became the law of the land. The Volstead Act, passed nine months later, provided for the enforcement of prohibition, including the creation of a special unit of the Treasury Department.

Why were prohibition laws difficult to enforce? Because of the bootleggers that would bring alcohol into the US and sell to those who wanted it. Because if they wanted it they’d get it. No money to enforce the law.

The Volstead Act charged the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the Treasury Department with enforcing Prohibition. As a result, the Prohibition Unit was founded within the IRS.