(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

National drinking age

             The National Minimum Drinking Age Act is perhaps the law that has the most impact on the day-to-day lives of America's youth since it was signed into law on July 17, 1984. While the 21-year-old drinking age seems imbedded in American society, it is only a recent innovation. Most people do not know that the drinking age was only made a national law in 1984, and only after a determined battle by special interest groups. .
                       The history of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act truly started back before Prohibition. The temperance movement used selective prohibition (drinking ages) as a stepping stone approach to their goal of outlawing all alcohol. Finally they did achieve the goal of total Prohibition of alcohol, and in 1919 the 18th amendment to the constitution was ratified. Due to the apparent ineffectiveness of   Prohibition and the change in public opinion, the 18th amendment was in 1933 repealed by the 21st amendment. What followed was a compromise with the lingering temperance movement and the modern drinking age was established. "The political failure of general Prohibition meant that American adults would increasingly focus justifications for alcohol policy less on the perils of drunkenness and more on the tenuous concept that adults can drink properly but youths cannot or should not." (Males 190) .
                       From the end of Prohibition until 1984 drinking ages were determined by the states -- many of them had the age at 21 while several lowered the age to 18 for the purchase of beer. This was changed by the activism of the "Baby Boom" generation during the Vietnam War. From 1970 through 1975 nearly all states lowered their legal ages of adulthood, thirty including their legal drinking ages, usually from 21 to 18." (Males 194) It was argued that if people were required to fight and die in a foreign war then they should be allowed the privilege of drinking alcohol.


Essays Related to National drinking age

1. National Drinking Age

MADD helped to pass federal statute 158, which increased the national drinking age to 21 years of age. ... To combat the growing sense of the irrationalism of the 21-year-old national drinking age, the U.S. ... There is much information that defends the current national drinking age at 21 years of age and even more so which reveals many considerations to why the age should be lowered. ... But in 1984, President Reagan, with the help from MADD and from Congress, pushed to enact the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. ... There have been many small pushes to review the current national drinkin...

  • Word Count: 1792
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. APA Essay - Lowering the Drinking Age

The Minimum Legal Drinking Age Laws (MLDA) believes that lowering age limits would lower the amount of Drinking under the influence (DUI). ... To completely understand both sides of the drinking age debate, it is helpful to examine the evolution of the country's minimum drinking age law and historical liquor laws, which include prohibition in the 1920s, and the National Drinking Age Act of 1984. ... The National Drinking Age Act raised the age after lobbying by Mothers Against Drunk Driving provided convincing evidence that young people were dying in alarming numbers on the country's...

  • Word Count: 2509
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. College Students and the Drinking Age

A survey taken in 2011 by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, reports that 25% of youth aged 12 to 20 years drink alcohol and 16% binge drink (Alcohol and Public Health, 2012). ... Another reason the drinking age in the United States is 21, is because of the National Minimum Drinking Age of 1984. The National Minimum Drinking Age of 1984 states that the power to set your own drinking age lies with the states. ... By making the drinking age 21, According to MADD, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act (NMDAA) has saved some 17,000 lives on the highways since 1988 (Daniloff, C. 2010, 10)....

  • Word Count: 588
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

4. U.S. Drinking Age

The U.S. government has already forgot their lesson by raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 in the mid-1980s. ... One of the main arguments used in favor of raising the drinking age during the 1980s was drunk driving. ... On July 17, 1984, Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. ... There have been many signs that have favored changing the drinking age back to 18. If the U.S. had gone from the early 1900s through the mid-80s with the drinking age at 18, why change it? ...

  • Word Count: 586
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Drinking age

Should the legal drinking age be lowered to 18. ... The drinking age has a major impact on the 18-21 year-old crowd because many feel drinking is a right they should have since they are considered adults, " Many Americans feel it is unfair that you can go to war for your country, but you cant have a beer", an issue that faces the national and state governments. The United States passed a law in 1984, to raise the drinking age to 21 and would reduce highway funds for states that didnot change the age. ... It is surprising how many high school students and college students a...

  • Word Count: 822
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Drinking Age

Drinking Age The drinking age has been adjusted many times between the years of 1963 and 1988. It has been different state to state but became age 21 nationally in 1988. ... I propose that the drinking age on beer and wine be lowered to age 18, as it was up until the early 70's.... Lower the drinking age on beer and wine from age 21 to age 18. ... Canada has a drinking age of 19. ...

  • Word Count: 874
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Lowering the Legal Drinking Age to 18

The drinking age in the United States is now twenty one years of age. ... This lasted for a few years, but then the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 came along. ... Because of these factors, the national drinking age of the United States should be lowered from twenty one to eighteen. ... National Prohibition was the time when the whole county, every age, was banned from drinking. ... National Prohibition and safety issues, like underground drinking are truly good reasons to consider lowering the drinking age to eighteen. ...

  • Word Count: 1648
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question