TWENTY-FIRST AMENDMENT

The Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads:

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

The Twenty-first Amendment was proposed on February 20, 1933, and ratified on December 5, 1933. It is the only amendment to repeal another amendment, the Eighteenth, and the only one to be ratified by state conventions rather than by state legislatures.

Repeal of the eighteenth amendment ended fourteen years of prohibition, a failed national experiment that sought to eliminate the consumption of intoxicating liquors. Though consumption was reduced, federal and state law enforcement officials could not prevent the illegal manufacture and sale of "bootleg" alcohol. organized crime profited from the ban on alcohol, which enabled criminals such as Chicago gangster al capone to become multi-millionaires. Critics of Prohibition argued that the increase in crime and lawlessness offset any gains from reducing the consumption of liquor.

Prohibition was supported most strongly in rural areas. In urban areas enforcement was difficult. Cities had large populations of immigrants who did not see anything morally wrong with consuming alcohol. In the early 1930s, as production and sales of illegal liquor continued to rise, the onset of the Great Depression led to calls for repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. A legalized liquor industry would provide more jobs at a time when millions were out of work.

At its national convention in 1932, the democratic party adopted a platform plank calling for repeal. The landslide Democratic victory of 1932 signaled the end of Prohibition. In February 1933 a resolution proposing the Twenty-first Amendment was introduced in Congress; it contained a provision requiring ratification by state conventions rather than by state legislatures. Though Article V of the Constitution authorizes this ratification method, it had never been used. Supporters of repeal did not want the state legislatures, which generally were dominated by rural legislators supportive of Prohibition, to vote against ratification.

During 1933 thirty-eight states elected delegates to state conventions to consider the amendment. Almost three-quarters of the voters supported repeal in these elections. Therefore, it was not surprising that the ratification conventions certified the results and ratified the Twenty-first Amendment on December 5, 1933.

Section 2 of the amendment gives states the right to prohibit the transportation or importation of intoxicating liquors. Many states enacted their own prohibition laws in the 1930s, but all had been repealed by 1966. The regulation of liquor is now primarily a local issue.

further readings

Brown, Everett Somerville, compiler. 2003. Ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: State Convention Records and Laws. Clark, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange.

Twenty‐first Amendment The only constitutional amendment ratified by the electorate rather than legislators, the Twenty‐first was also the only amendment to repeal another, the Eighteenth. Not quite fourteen years elapsed between the adoption of the national prohibition amendment on 16 January 1919, and the ratification of the Twenty‐first Amendment on 5 December 1933.

National prohibition sharply reduced but did not altogether eliminate the use of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Neither state and local law enforcement officials nor the small federal Prohibition Bureau authorized by the 1919 Volstead Act could cope with the variety and volume of prohibition violations. The longer sentences and larger fines imposed by the 1929 federal Jones “Five‐and Ten” Act had little effect. Nor did a series of Supreme Court decisions upholding concurrent powers of state and federal enforcement, United States v. Lanza (1922); warrantless automobile searches, Carroll v. United States (1925); restrictions on medicinal liquor prescriptions, Lambert v. Yellowley (1926); and wiretap telephone surveillance Olmstead v. United States (1928).

Opposition to prohibition came from politically active groups of recent immigrants who saw prohibition as a slap at their cultures and antiprohibition organizations, which argued that the liquor ban encouraged crime and disrespect for all law, while simultaneously giving the federal government too much power over people's personal lives. The economic collapse of the early 1930s brought arguments that prohibition took away jobs and liquor taxes.

The Democratic party endorsed prohibition repeal in 1932, and its sweeping November victory brought quick congressional action. On 20 February 1933, Congress adopted, by more than the required two‐thirds, an amendment resolution that would repeal the Eighteenth Amendment and prohibit transportation of intoxicating beverages into any U.S. state, territory, or possession in violation of its laws. The resolution also called for ratification of the proposed amendment by state conventions rather than legislatures. The Supreme Court in Hawke v. Smith (1920), overturning a 1919 Ohio referendum on the Eighteenth Amendment, had stirred demands that this never‐employed alternative Article V procedure be used so that convention delegate elections would provide a direct expression of popular opinion on the proposed constitutional amendment. During 1933 thirty‐eight states held delegate elections: 73 percent of 21 million voters cast ballots for candidates who favored an end to national prohibition, and only South Carolina voters rejected repeal. Ratification conventions quickly certified the results, and on 5 December 1933, when Pennsylvania, Ohio, and finally Utah acted, national prohibition came to an end. Despite the fact that alcohol consumption rates remained below pre‐1920 levels for forty years after national prohibition, the federal effort to forbid adult use of alcohol has been generally perceived as a failure, a futile policy, and a misapplication of the constitutional amending process.

See also Constitutional Amendments.

David E. Kyvig

TWENTY-FIRST AMENDMENT

The year 1933 marked a benchmark in U.S. constitutional history. The Twenty-first Amendment was enacted. It is the only constitutional amendment to repeal another amendment. With its ratification, the Eighteenth Amendment's mandate to eliminate liquor consumption in the United States was repealed.

Fourteen years after it began, Prohibition ended. Although the Eighteenth Amendment did succeed in reducing the amount of alcohol consumed, it failed in its goal of eliminating the consumption of intoxicating liquors in the United States. Many people continued to imbibe. Taking advantage of the legal ban on alcohol, organized crime helped develop a black market in "bootleg" alcohol to meet continuing public demand. Criminals like Chicago gangster Al Capone (1899-1947) became multimillionaires. In the early 1930s, production and sales of "bootleg" liquor continued to rise and the Great Depression began. Prohibition was difficult to enforce in urban areas, and critics argued the increase in crime resulting from the ban offset reductions in consumption. In addition, millions of citizens were out of work and legalizing the liquor industry would create more jobs. Calls for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment were gaining ground.

During the 1932 Democratic national convention, the party platform included a call for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. In the presidential election of that year, the Democrats won a landslide victory. In February 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment was proposed in Congress. It specified the amendment must be ratified by state conventions rather than state legislatures so that legislators (who were predominantly from rural areas that supported Prohibition) could not vote against ratification.

Before 1933 was over, the Twenty-first Amendment had passed. Prohibition was officially over. The amendment did give states the right to prohibit the importation or transportation of intoxicating liquors, and many states did enact their own prohibition laws in the 1930s. By 1966, however, all state prohibition laws were repealed.

See also: Black Market, Eighteenth Amendment, Prohibition