Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States focused on the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages; however, exceptions were made for medicinal and religious uses. Alcohol consumption was never illegal under federal law. Nationwide Prohibition did not begin in the United States until January 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. The 18th amendment was ratified in 1919, and was repealed in December 1933 with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment.
J. C. W. Beckham
True to his prohibitionist stance, Beckham supported passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, which enacted Prohibition in the United States. The amendment was ratified and became effective in January 1920. Believing that women should be protected from involvement in politics, Beckham opposed the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women's suffrage. The amendment failed on February 10, 1919 but passed on June 4, 1919. Beckham voted against it both times.