18th and 21st Amendments : The 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919 to forbid the making, transporting and selling of alcoholic beverages. During the 1830s, it was estimated that the average American of over 15 years of age drank 7.3 gallons of pure alcohol a year. This resulted in many religious groups promoting the idea of outlawing alcohol throughout the nation. The religious groups considered alcohol and the drunkenness as a threat to the nation. The prohibition of alcohol was known as the Noble Experiment. People believed the national experiment would reduce crime activity, improve health, decrease the need for prisons, solve social problems, etc. Unfortunately, the experiment backfired. Instead, the law encouraged large, …show more content…
The government was unable to prevent the illegal manufacturing and selling of “bootleg” alcohol. Over two-hundred million alcoholic beverages were transferred from brewing industries and bars to gangsters and bootleggers. The 21st Amendment was basically the aftermath of the failed Noble Experiment. Nowadays, each state sets its own rules for sale and importation of alcohol and the drinking age, but the federal law prohibits the sale of alcohol to minors, which are under the age of 21.
The prohibition of alcohol, ironically increased crime activity like illegal alcohol businesses and black markets instead of decreasing it. One example of crime activity includes the St. Valentine Day Massacre. On February 14, 1929, four men, believed to be Al Capone’s henchmen, disguised as policemen and arrived at a garage in Chicago. They shot seven men, who were associated with Capone’s arch enemy, Bugs Moran. The event was the climax of a gang war between arch enemies, George “Bugs” Moran and ‘Scarface’ Al Capone. They competed for the control of smuggling and trafficking operations in the Windy …show more content…
There are two types of court cases in the United States of America, federal and state. The Seventh Amendment states that it is mandatory to have a civil jury only in federal courts. The U.S. Supreme Court is required to protect every right in the Bill of Rights, such as the right to criminal jury trial, but the court is not needed to hold a civil trial jury. The Seventh Amendment contains two clauses, which is “In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved.” This decides whether the use of civil trial is necessary or not. The second clause is“no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.” This clause states that the federal judges cannot reserve the jury in any way.
This amendment is needed in order to separate small issues from larger ones and save time. A jury trial is only allowed if the case is worth more than twenty dollars, about five hundred dollars in today’s money. If every court issue was allowed a trial, all of the important cases would be pushed back and it would be a waste of time and energy. For example, a case where someone stole a computer would not be allowed a trial because it is worth less than twenty dollars. On the other hand, a homicide case would definitely be allowed because it