Prohibition and the Scopes Trial

Do you think the passage of the Volstead Act and the ruling in the Scopes trial represented genuine triumphs for traditional values? Think About:

The Scopes trial was not a genuine triumphs for traditional values. For example the Scopes trial did not stop schools from teaching evolution in the future. So, all it did was slow the advance of untraditional values in one state for a short amount of time. Obviously not an advance of the traditional values. Also, the trial wasn't really a trial, it was more of a debate that didn't have an effect on legal issues So all it really did was just kept public opinion and law as it was.
The Volstead Act also was not a true advance for traditional values. All it did was allow the government to arrest people found with alcohol. For example, mobsters imported and bootlegged alcohol that they were able to sell to those who wanted it. Also, doctors were allowed to give alcohol to their patients and would if they wanted it. Furthermore, the government was not able to pay for the officials needed to enforce the job. Thus they could not enforce the Act and there fore it was not a triumph. Finally, the majority of Americans did not like the act, and mostly only women supported it. Therefore it wasn't even based on 'traditional' values, but more on the whims of women trying to prevent there husbands from spending money on alcohol.


• changes in urban life in the 1920s
• the effects of Prohibition
• the legacy of the Scopes trial