Born from the temperance movement’s efforts to address social problems linked to alcohol consumption, the 18th Amendment established “Prohibition” in the United States, banning the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. Ratified in 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment was the product of decades of efforts to ban the sale of alcohol.

The Anti-Saloon League (ASL), founded in 1893 in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1906 started a campaign to ban the sale of alcohol at the state level. Their speeches, advertisements, and public demonstrations claimed that prohibition of alcohol would eliminate poverty, immoral sexual behavior, and violence. The ASL argued that prohibition would inspire new forms of sociability, create happier families, reduce workplace accidents, and improve the world overall. Other groups, such as the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, joined in those efforts. Churches were also highly influential in garnering 6,000 local societies in several different states. The well-known reformer, Carrie Nation, became a household name for vandalizing saloon property. Because of the popularity of the movement, particularly among women, many state legislatures enacted statewide prohibition prior to the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, which was ratified on Jan. 16, 1919, with the necessary three-fourths of the states approving it within just over a year of its proposal in December 1917. The amendment did not become effective until Jan. 17, 1920, one year after its ratification.

The amendment and its enabling legislation did not ban the consumption of alcohol outright but prohibited the sale, manufacture, and distribution of alcohol in the United States. Those caught selling, manufacturing, or distributing alcoholic beverages would be subject to arrest.

Just after the Eighteenth Amendment’s adoption, there was a significant reduction in alcohol consumption among the general public and particularly among low-income groups. There were fewer hospitalizations for alcoholism and likewise fewer liver-related medical problems. However, consumption soon climbed as underworld entrepreneurs began producing dangerous bootlegged alcohol. With the rise of careless distilling as many as 10,000 deaths were attributed to wood alcohol (methanol) poisoning. Perhaps the most dramatic consequence of Prohibition was its effect on organized crime. As the production and sale of alcohol went further underground, it began to be controlled by gangs that transformed into sophisticated criminal enterprises that reaped huge profits from the illicit liquor trade.

Organized-crime syndicates became skilled at bribing police and politicians to overlook violations. Chicago’s Al Capone emerged as the most notorious example, earning an estimated $60 million annually from his bootlegging and speakeasy operations. Public sentiment began to turn against Prohibition during the 1920s, and 1932 Democratic presidential nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt called for its repeal.

The Twenty-first Amendment was proposed by the 72nd Congress on Feb. 20, 1933, and was ratified by the requisite number of states on Dec. 5, 1933. It is unique among the 27 amendments of the U.S. Constitution for being the only one to repeal a prior amendment, as well as being the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions. Section 1 of the 21st Amendment simply states, “The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.”

Prohibition in the United States lasted for 13 years, from 1920 to 1933. The 21st Amendment ended national Prohibition and allowed states to regulate the sale and distribution of alcohol, granting them significant control over these activities.

Several states continued to be “dry states” in the years after the repealing of the Eighteenth Amendment, and some continue to this day to closely regulate the distribution of alcohol and designate communities to decide if selling alcohol is permitted.

Joy Cowdery, member of Living Democracy: Engaging Citizens, a local citizen group. Our mission is to inform and educate the Mid-Ohio Valley about how government works on the local, state, and federal levels and how citizens can be involved to make our democracy work. Join us the third Monday of each month at the Armory. livingdemocracymov@gmail.com and facebook/speak foryourselfvote and Youtube channel Living Democracy.