f the Republic
they themselves had founded. None of these things, however, would seem
to them to involve any essential change in the beliefs and purposes of
men as they had known them. The Prohibition Amendment, on the contrary,
would evidence to their minds the breaking down of a principle of
government which they had deemed axiomatic, the abandonment of a purpose
which they had supposed immutable. As students of the science of
government they would realize that the most fundamental change which can
overtake a free people is a change in their frame of mind, for to that
everything else must sooner or later conform.

The amendment was proposed by Congress in 1917 and proclaimed as having
been ratified in 1919.[1]

[Footnote 1: 40 Stat. 1050, 1941.]

The comparative ease and dispatch with which it was put through argue
alike the skill and vigor of its sponsors and the strength of the
sentiment behind them. Legal warfare over the amendment did not end,
however, with its ratification by the legislatures of the requisite
number of states. Passions had been aroused. Vast property interests
were menaced. Moreover, in the minds of students of government the
amendment stirred misgivings which were quite independent of the
sentimental and material considerations involved. Eminent counsel were
retained and a determined effort was made to defeat or nullify the
amendment in the courts. To this end suits were begun in various
jurisdictions to test its validity and enjoin the enforcement of the
Volstead Act, which sought to carry it into effect. Two sovereign
states (Rhode Island and New Jersey) joined in the attack and through
their respective Attorneys General brought original suits in the United
States Supreme Court to have the amendment declared invalid. Seven test
cases were argued together in the Supreme Court, five days in all being
devoted to the argument. It will be of interest to note some of the
reasons advanced against the validity of the amendment, as they are
summarized in the official report.[1]

[Footnote 1: National Prohibition cases, 253 U.S., 350.]

The Attorney General of the State of Rhode Island argued[1] that:

The amendment is an invasion of the sovereignty of the
complaining state and her people, not contemplated by the
amending clause of the Constitution. The amending power ... is
not a substantive power but a precautionary safeguard inserted
incidentally to insure the ends set