Prohibition and Government Documents

One invaluable resource for your students’ National History Day 2012 projects is the database HeinOnline.  HeinOnline is a premier online research product with more than 70 million pages of legal history.  This online database is a fully-searchable, image based format.  HeinOnline provides online access to the Congressional Record Bound volumes in entirety, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, famous world trials dating back to the early 1700′s, legal classics from the 16th to the 20th centuries, the United Nations and League of Nations Treaty Series, all United States Treaties, the Federal Register from inception in 1936, the Code of Federal Regulations from inception in 1938, and much more.


HeinOnline provides exact page images of the documents in PDF format just as they appear in the original print – this includes all charts, graphs, tables, pictures, hand written notes, photographs, and footnotes – thus providing excellent primary sources. 

Using “prohibition” as the search term, our results list will contain various documents such as Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Wickersham Commission Reports, and U.S. Attorney General Opinions.  Click the titles below to see examples: 

Challenge: Liquor and Lawlessness Versus Constitutional Govenment by William Gibbs McAdoo (1928).


Selected Articles on Prohibition, Modification of the Volstead Law by Lamar T. Beman (1924).

U.S. Wickersham Commission Reports. U.S. National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, Report on the Cost of Crime (1931)  (Includes a fascinating chart which tracks the cost of enforcing prohibition laws in the federal courts 1929 - 1930). 


These are only a few examples of the many documents and resources available through HeinOnline.  To access this database, start from GoWyld.net.  From here, access HeinOnline either through the alphabetical listing at the top of the page, or by selecting the Government Information link. Selecting HeinOnline from the list of databases will take you to the HeinOnline hompage.  Explore this fabulous resource for your each of your students’ History Day projects! 

NOTE: Only available in the State Library, State Law Library, and participating public libraries.  Check this list to see if you have access through your library.