{"id":30972,"date":"2016-04-04T20:34:02","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T01:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/constitution\/amendment18.html"},"modified":"2024-08-23T14:25:39","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T19:25:39","slug":"amendment18","status":"publish","type":"constitution","link":"https:\/\/constitution.findlaw.com\/amendment18.html","title":{"rendered":"Eighteenth Amendment: Prohibition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Eighteenth Amendment: Prohibition<\/h1>\n
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\n By Melissa McCall, J.D.<\/a> | Legally reviewed by Edward Maggio, Esq.<\/a>\n | Last reviewed\n
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The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n<\/section>\n

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The Eighteenth Amendment is a good example of an era in American history where Congress attempted to legislate the nation’s moral fabric. But it didn’t exactly go as planned. Instead, the Eighteenth Amendment ushered in the Prohibition Era and the rise of organized crime. Although the amendment was repealed in 1933, it remains historically relevant because of Prohibition’s impact on the nation. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

The Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited alcohol in the United States, emerged directly from the Temperance Movement. This movement aimed to reduce the consumption of alcohol by the American populace. Consequently, the amendment outlawed the production, distribution, and sale of alcoholic drinks nationwide.<\/p>\r\n

Ratification of the 18th Amendment kicked off the Prohibition Era in American history, setting the stage for a new wave of organized crime.<\/p>\r\n

Historical Context<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

The push for a nationwide prohibition of alcohol was part of a more significant progressive push to shape the moral fabric of American life. Proponents of the Temperance Movement<\/a> believed there was a causal link between alcohol consumption and social ills such as poverty.<\/p>\r\n

The movement successfully pushed for prohibition laws on the local and state levels, and by 1893, proponents created the national Anti-Saloon League<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

The National Prohibition Act<\/b><\/h3>\r\n

The Temperance Movement\u2019s push for a constitutional amendment was successful. Congress passed the 18th Amendment<\/a> in 1918, with ratification completed in 1919. Although the states quickly ratified the Amendment, it did not have an enforcement mechanism.<\/p>\r\n

Later that year, Congress enacted the Volstead Act<\/a>, named after Andrew Volstead, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, overriding President Woodrow Wilson’s veto. The act granted the Treasury Department enforcement power, which it utilized to appoint prohibition agents.<\/p>\r\n

What the Eighteenth Amendment Says<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

"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.<\/i><\/p>\r\n

The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.<\/i><\/p>\r\n

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."<\/i><\/p>\r\n

Analysis and Interpretation<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

Hawke v. Smith<\/i><\/a> is a U.S. Supreme Court case that solidified the constitutionality of the 18th Amendment. In Hawke,<\/i> a group of Ohio voters challenged the constitutionality of the Prohibition Amendment. All amendments to the Constitution of the United States require ratificatio<\/a>n by two-thirds of the states through respective state legislatures. Ohio’s state constitution allowed for a referendum on any Constitutional Amendment ratified by the Ohio legislature.<\/p>\r\n

After the Ohio legislature ratified the Eighteenth Amendment, the Ohio Secretary of State began preparations for a referendum. The Hawke <\/i>petitioners sued the Ohio Secretary of State, questioning the validity of Ohio’s law.<\/p>\r\n

The Supreme Court held that Ohio law requiring a referendum on the Prohibition Amendment was unconstitutional. The Court’s ruling likely closed off similar avenues to invalidating the Eighteenth Amendment.<\/p>\r\n

Repealing the Eighteenth Amendment<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

Prohibition laws did little to eradicate the sale and consumption of alcohol completely. Instead, citizens found creative and illegal ways around Prohibition. Bootlegging<\/a>, the unlawful manufacture, transport, and sale of alcoholic beverages, grew during this Era. Speakeasies, establishments that (illegally) sold alcohol, proliferated during this time.<\/p>\r\n

The Prohibition Era also gave rise to a new era in crime as citizens found creative ways around this new amendment. Many people call this Era the "Roaring Twenties." The Prohibition Era lasted from 1919 until 1933.<\/p>\r\n

Congress passed the Twenty-First Amendment<\/a> in 1933, explicitly repealing the Prohibition Amendment. Notably, this was the first instance of using a constitutional amendment to repeal a different amendment of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\r\n

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