Eighteenth Amendment: Prohibition (repealed)

The Eighteenth Amendment banned making, selling and transporting "intoxicating liquors" across the country. Prohibition began in January 1920 and ended in 1933, when the Twenty-first Amendment repealed it. It is the only amendment ever repealed. It still matters because the court fights over its ratification set two rules for amending the Constitution: Congress can set a deadline for ratification, and a state referendum can't undo a legislature's vote to ratify.

The text (repealed)

This text is no longer in effect.

After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Source: National Archives transcription Verified1

Changed. Repealed. The Eighteenth Amendment was "Repealed by amendment 21," per the Archives. It is not law. Verified5,1

The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Source: National Archives transcription Verified1

Changed. Repealed. The Eighteenth Amendment was "Repealed by amendment 21," per the Archives. It is not law. Verified5,1

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

Source: National Archives transcription Verified1

Changed. Repealed. The Eighteenth Amendment was "Repealed by amendment 21," per the Archives. It is not law. Verified5,1

Section by section

• Section 1, the ban. After a one-year delay, it barred "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" in the U.S., plus importing and exporting them, "for beverage purposes" Verified1. Owning or drinking alcohol wasn't itself banned.
• Section 2, enforcement. "The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article" Verified1. The Court read "concurrent power" so that it does "not mean joint power." Congress didn't need the states' approval to act Verified2.
• Section 3, deadline. The amendment would fail unless ratified "within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress" Verified1.

History

By 1917, "the widespread proliferation of state restrictions on the liquor trade and Congress's enactment of wartime prohibition measures had laid the foundation for nationwide Prohibition" Verified3. Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas introduced the resolution on April 4, 1917, and the Senate approved it "on August 1, 1917" Verified3.

Supporters argued that national enforcement would stop smuggling from "wet" states into "dry" ones. Opponents argued that federal policing of "individuals' social habits would intrude upon the states' reserved powers" Verified3. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge predicted Prohibition would be impossible to enforce and widely disobeyed Verified3.

"Prohibition took effect throughout the United States on January 17, 1920." Congress had passed the Volstead Act in October 1919 Verified3. Fourteen years later, the Twenty-first Amendment repealed it. See Twenty-first Amendment.

How courts read it

• National Prohibition Cases (1920). The Court upheld the amendment and the Volstead Act. A joint resolution passed "each by a two-thirds vote ... sufficiently shows that the proposal was deemed necessary by all who voted for it" (National Prohibition Cases, 253 U.S. 350 (1920)) Verified2. It also held that Congress stayed within its enforcement power when the Volstead Act covered drinks with as little as one-half of 1 percent alcohol by volume Verified2.
• Hawke v. Smith (1920). Ohio voters tried to hold a referendum on the legislature's ratification. The Court said no: "ratification by a state of a constitutional amendment is not an act of legislation within the proper sense of the word. It is but the expression of the assent of the state to a proposed amendment" (Hawke v. Smith, 253 U.S. 221 (1920)) Verified6.
• Dillon v. Gloss (1921). The Court upheld the seven-year deadline: "the ratification must be within some reasonable time after the proposal," and "Of the power of Congress, keeping within reasonable limits, to fix a definite period for the ratification we entertain no doubt" (Dillon v. Gloss, 256 U.S. 368 (1921)) Verified7.

What it teaches

Our reading: the Eighteenth is the clearest example of an amendment used to set specific social policy rather than to structure government or protect rights. Its repeal shows that the Article V process works in both directions. Its court cases still govern how amendments are ratified. See Article V.

In Williams

• Today's rules come from the state. After repeal, California's constitution gave the state "the exclusive right and power to license and regulate the manufacture, sale, purchase, possession and transportation of alcoholic beverages within the State" (Art. XX, §22) Verified4. Bars, restaurants and stores in Williams get licenses from the state. The city's role is mostly land use. See Article XX.
• The drinking age is in the state constitution. "No person under the age of 21 years shall purchase any alcoholic beverage" (Art. XX, §22) Verified4.
• Referendums and amendments. Under Hawke, California voters couldn't use a referendum to reverse the Legislature's vote ratifying a federal amendment Verified6. Our reading: state initiatives can change California's own constitution, but not the ratification of a federal one.
• Local history. We haven't verified any public source on how Prohibition played out in Williams or Colusa County, so this lesson makes no claims about it.

Common misconceptions

• "Prohibition made drinking illegal." The amendment banned manufacture, sale and transport for beverage purposes, not possession or drinking Verified1.
• "States could opt out." "Concurrent power" didn't mean states had to agree before federal enforcement took effect Verified2.
• "Voters could overturn their state's ratification by referendum." Hawke v. Smith rejected that Verified6.
• "Amendments never have deadlines." The Eighteenth was the first to set one, and the Court upheld it Verified3,7.

Check yourself

Pick an answer for each question. You will see right away if it is right, and why.