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/* Post-World War I */ improved
== Post-World War I ==
Several amendments were added to the U.S. Constitution soon after the end of World War I. In 1919, the Prohibition movement (which had been growing for decades) succeeded in ratifying the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, sale, importation, and exportation of alcohol. Recall that the Prohibition movement was started by Christian women, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, who were upset at what alcohol was doing to families. Other groups joined in the effort to ban alcohol, including the Anti-Saloon League that was disgusted by the effect of saloons on communities.
Congress quickly passed the Volstead Act in 1919 to enforce Prohibition, but lacked enough federal agents to enforce it. Many secretly ignored and violated the ban, and organized crime profited from the illegal trade in alcohol. After the Great Depression hit and power in the country shifted from the Republicans to Democrats in the early 1930s, the 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition, but several "dry" counties exist to this day.
'''Debate: Was Prohibition Desirabledesirable? Has alcohol caused more harm than good?'''
In 1920, women obtained the universal right to vote by virtue of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Women already voted in many states by that time, but this amendment ensured they could vote everywhere.
Non-war-related developments in the decade of the 1910s had a significant impacts impact after the war. In 1914, Congress passed the Clayton (Antitrust) Act, which expanded bans on anti-competitive activities and monopolization. It prohibited "price discrimination" (charging two identical customers different prices), tying agreements (a powerful company "tying" one product to another by requiring a customer to buy both), and interlocking directors among competitors (the same people serving as directors of UPS and Federal Express, for example). To help enforce laws against unfair business practices, Congress also passed the Federal Trade Commission Act in 1914. This established the Federal Trade Commission to investigate unfair trade practices and issued issue "cease and desist orders" to stop them.
In 1917, Congress created territorial status for Puerto Rico by passing the Jones Act. This also gave citizens of Puerto Rico full citizenship in the United States.
