Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution

Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition in the United States. Ratified on December 5, 1933, it is the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions rather than state legislatures. The amendment also contains a unique clause, Section 2, which grants explicit power to the states to regulate the transportation or importation of intoxicating liquors.

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 The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.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

Proposal and ratification

The movement for repeal gained significant momentum during the Great Depression, fueled by arguments for new tax revenue and job creation. The Blaine Act, sponsored by Senator John J. Blaine of Wisconsin, proposed the amendment and was passed by the 72nd United States Congress in February 1933. Following the precedent set by the ratification of the original Constitution, Congress specified that the amendment be ratified by state conventions, bypassing potentially hostile state legislatures still influenced by the Anti-Saloon League. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the act, and the Secretary of State certified the amendment's adoption on December 5, 1933, after Utah became the 36th state to approve it. The ratification process was completed in under ten months, one of the fastest in history.

Repeal of Prohibition

The amendment's ratification immediately nullified the Volstead Act and ended the Prohibition era, which had begun in 1920. The repeal was celebrated publicly, with the Cleveland *Plain Dealer* famously declaring "PROHIBITION IS DEAD!" The legal manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol resumed under new federal and state regulations. The Bureau of Prohibition was transferred to the Department of Justice and its focus shifted to tax enforcement, eventually becoming part of the Alcohol Tax Unit. The Twenty-first Amendment did not establish a federal right to drink, leaving the definition of intoxicating liquors and the specifics of regulation to the states.

State and local control

Section 2 of the amendment, known as the "state police power clause," explicitly grants states broad authority to regulate alcohol within their borders. This power has been interpreted to allow for a wide variety of regulatory schemes, including dry counties, state-controlled monopolies, restrictions on sales hours, and licensing requirements. The Supreme Court, in cases like *State Board of Equalization v. Young's Market Co.* (1936), has held that this clause grants states authority that might otherwise violate the Dormant Commerce Clause. This has led to a complex patchwork of laws, where the legality of alcohol can differ between New York and New Jersey, or even between neighboring counties in Texas.

Subsequent influence

The amendment's unique ratification method and its grant of power to the states have made it a significant subject of constitutional law. It remains a key precedent for the constitutionality of state-based alcohol regulation, affecting modern debates over direct-to-consumer wine shipments and craft brewery distribution. The amendment also influenced the drafting of later amendments, with the Twenty-second Amendment adopting its seven-year ratification time limit. The failure of Prohibition is frequently cited in political discourse regarding the limits of sumptuary legislation and the unintended consequences of nationwide moral reform.

Category:Amendments to the United States Constitution Category:1933 in American law Category:Prohibition in the United States