18th and 21st Amendments

US Constitution of 1787

18^th and 21^st Amendments

#	US Constitution Amendment	Proposal Date	Enacted Date
21st	Repeals the Eighteenth Amendment and prohibits violations of state laws regarding alcohol - Signers: Speaker of the House John Nance Garner (D-TX) & Vice President Charles Curtis (R-KA)	February  20, 1933	December  5, 1933
18th	Establishes prohibition of alcohol (repealed by Twenty-first Amendment) - Signers: Speaker of the House Champ Clark (D-MS) & Vice President Thomas R. Marshall (D - IN)	December 18, 1917	January 16, 1919

The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution effectively established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States by declaring the production, transport and sale of alcohol illegal. The separate Volstead Act set down methods of enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment, and defined which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited, and which were excluded from prohibition (e.g., for medical and religious purposes). Perplexingly, the Amendment did not outlaw the consumption or private possession of alcohol.  The Amendment was the first to set a time delay before it would take effect following ratification, and the first to set a time limit for its ratification by the states. Its ratification was certified on January 16, 1919, with the amendment taking effect on January 17, 1920.

Section 1. 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.

Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3. 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.

18th Amendment -  Pamphlet, dated September 7, 1918 of letters and articles written by former President Howard Taft titled “Taft Denounces Dry Amendment, Sees Grave Danger in Adoption of Prohibition Proposal for Constitution,”  and “An Irretrievable National Blunder.” Reprinted from the New Haven Journal-Courier, Saturday, September 7^th, 1918. 

The police, US Treasury agents, courts and prisons were underfunded and overwhelmed with citizens and foreigners who brazenly broke the new laws. Organized crime was fueled to its greatest height with the profits generated from the manufacturer and distribution of alcohol. Corruption was rampant among law enforcement officials extending even to the Attorney General of the United States.  The amendment was repealed in 1933 by ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, the only instance in United States history that a constitutional amendment had been repealed and a new one ratified by the method of the state ratifying convention.

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.

Exhibited here is:A 1918 printing of the 18^th Amendment as proposed by the United States Congress from the Statutes Of The United States Of America 1917-1918, United States Congress, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 1918, United States Congress, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 1918 

Above is a Typed Letter Signed by Congressman Hamilton Fish, Jr. to H. Powell Ramsdell, Esq. of Newburgh, New York stating:  “Replying to your letter, although I have been in favor of the modification of the Volstead Act to permit the sale of beer for a number of years, there are not anywhere near 50% of the Members of Congress that favor such action, consequently there is no prospect of any legislation along these lines. Sincerely yours, Hamilton Fish, Jr.”   Ten months later, Congress did act and proposed the Twenty-first Amendment on February 20, 1933. The proposed amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933 by state ratifying conventions, specially selected for the purpose.  Eight States (GA, KS, LA, MI, NE, ND, OK, and SD) took no action to consider the amendment.  North Carolina refused to hold a convention and South Carolina's Convention was the only one to reject the 21st Amendment. 

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