Closed for Violation Matted Print

• National Archives Store Exclusive
• Overall dimensions: 11 X 14 inches
• Artwork dimensions: approximately 10 X 6 1/2 inches

• Product Description

• Our "Closed for Violation" is an interesting conversation piece, taking us back a century to when the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors was prohibited. We think the print makes a striking piece for home or bar decor. It is ready to be framed.

In 1919, Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, commonly referred to as the Volstead Act, which outlawed the production, distribution, and transportation of alcohol. Prohibition officially went into effect on January 16, 1920. Originally envisioned as an age of moral reform for the country, the next decade saw an increase in organized crime, homicides, burglaries, and assaults as gangs supplied speakeasies with smuggled alcohol and law enforcement became overwhelmed.

With public opinion against it, Franklin Delano Roosevelt campaigned on repealing Prohibition, which ended in 1933 with the ratification of the 21st Amendment.