The 21st Amendment: Prohibition's Repeal and Its Legacy

Introduction

Long before recorded history, humankind was already using alcohol for medicinal and recreational purposes. Today, more people consume alcohol than ever before, but the attempt to outlaw this practice in the United States beginning in January 1919 was well-intentioned but clearly misguided. The impact of Prohibition on the American consciousness was probably as diametrically opposite to that intended as possible, and crime ran rampant in many parts of the country as a result. When it was repealed by the 21st Amendment, the nation celebrated, leading many modern observers to wonder why such a law was passed in the first place. This paper provides a discussion of the history, creation, and ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, examines why Americans felt the amendment was necessary, and considers what effect it has had on society.

History of the Twenty-First Amendment

In 1920, the results of a 200-year-old campaign against the sale and consumption of alcohol in the United States culminated in the passage of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which stated that "the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors... for beverage purposes, is hereby prohibited." At the time, this amendment struck a responsive chord with many American citizens who ardently believed it would transform America into "a law-abiding, pure and healthy country" by eliminating alcohol's destructive effects, such as crime, poverty, and low productivity. However, the results of earlier prohibition statutes suggested that things would go otherwise (Bryce 37).

For example, Bryce points out that the 1734 Act of Georgia was clearly indicative of what could be expected when Americans were not allowed to drink, "including avoidance through bootlegging and moonshining, bribery and the failure of the courts to convict offenders — and was repealed within eight years" (Bryce 37). A prohibition law was subsequently passed in Maine in 1851, and comparable legislation was passed in 13 other states; however, many of the same issues emerged and enforcement proved so difficult that repeal followed, in every case but one, before the Civil War. "Hence one asks why the 18th Amendment was passed in the light of such evidence" (Bryce 37).

In practice, history has shown that in order to be successful, prohibition initiatives must be able to pass two fundamental tests: (1) they must be able to command overwhelming public support; and (2) the prohibition must be capable of practical enforcement. "In liberal democracies," the editors of the New Statesman suggest (1997), "they should pass a third: things should not be prohibited merely because many, or even most, dislike them" (5). This attempt to legislate morality resulted in an enormous amount of criminal activity — both on the part of those who provided illegal alcoholic beverages to the American public and by making criminals out of ordinary Americans who only wanted to enjoy a drink.

This point is also made by Eng, who notes that, as important as it was at the time in U.S. history, "Many Americans today find it difficult to relate to the mood in the United States during the time leading up to Prohibition" (Eng 1849). The failed experiment with prohibition was in reality part of a series of constitutional changes that characterized the climax of the Progressive movement. For instance, the income tax amendment had taken effect in February 1913, and the provision for the popular election of U.S. senators quickly followed in May of the same year (Kyvig 53). As a result, "The prohibition amendment was proclaimed as ratified on January 16, 1919, and was declared in effect the following January, while the women's suffrage amendment won adoption in August 1920. Thus, in little more than seven years, four major objectives of reformers from the early Populists to the age of Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom had presumably been graven in stone as the law of the land" (Kyvig 53).

Creation and Ratification of the 21st Amendment

The issues surrounding the prohibition of alcohol consumption in the United States were certainly not resolved in 1919, and calls for the repeal of that ill-fated amendment began almost as soon as it was adopted. Efforts to enforce it had been largely unsuccessful, and a substantial increase in crime during the 1920s was attributed to Prohibition (Livingston 211). In response, a number of resolutions to repeal the prohibition were introduced over the next decade, and on February 20, 1933, Congress submitted an amendment to the states. It was ratified so quickly that constitutional scholars still cite it as an example of "the system working." Notably, "This is the only instance in which the procedure of ratification by state conventions has been employed" (Livingston 211).

During 1933, laws were passed in 43 states providing for ratification conventions that year or the following year — with the exceptions of Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Dakota (Livingston 211). During that same year, conventions were held in thirty-eight states, of which thirty-seven ratified the amendment and one (South Carolina) rejected it. The thirty-sixth ratification was received in the late afternoon of December 5, 1933, and the certificate was issued by the Secretary of State less than an hour later (Livingston 211).

On December 6, 1933, the thirty-seventh ratification was received from Maine. As a result, it required less than eleven months after the amendment's submission to the states for ratification by the requisite three-fourths majority, and the ill-fated experiment of national prohibition ended (Livingston 211). One reason the process proceeded so smoothly may have been based on a misconception among lawmakers at the time. Aaron Nielson (2004) reports that the 21st Amendment achieved the required votes in each house of Congress without provoking much substantive debate, most likely because the majority of Congressmen considered section one of the amendment — the simple repeal of constitutional Prohibition — as its main thrust: "It seems that sections two and three of the Amendment were seen as being primarily procedural sections, necessary to support and implement section one" (Nielson 281). The implications of that fateful misperception have continued to haunt legislators, particularly as they apply to section two.

Conclusion

The research showed that the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution began yet another short-lived experiment with prohibition — only this time it was on a national level. When it went into effect in January 1920, efforts to repeal it began almost immediately. In a whirlwind of legislative activity, the 21st Amendment was ratified by the requisite number of states in record time. In their haste to repeal the 18th Amendment, however, lawmakers failed to consider the impact of section two as it might apply to interstate commerce in the modern era. Given the heated nature of the debate at the time, they can perhaps be forgiven this legislative oversight. All in all, the research clearly demonstrated that the U.S. Constitution remains a living document that is capable of responding to changes in American society.