Theme: Debate & Diplomacy
By Vivian Che & Arthur Bale

Introduction

"This is a tombstone dedicated to John Barleycorn, giving his death as January 16, 1920, the date that the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect in the United States. Barleycorn is a character from an English folksong who personifies grain barley and the alcohol that can be made from it." (Slavicek 4).

On October 28, 1919, the 18th amendment was passed. It started the Prohibition of alcohol and to this day, remains the only amendment that has ever been repealed.

Prohibition's effectiveness has been long debated, but it was ultimately a failure. Although it had accomplished some of the goals that it was intended to, the amendment as a whole did more harm than good. This is because groups against drinking had personal reasons that would not benefit America as a whole, the Volstead Act had many loopholes which made obtaining alcohol rather easy, drinking was glamorized after it became illegal, and crime and corruption skyrocketed while Prohibition was in place.