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'Amendment XVIII' (the 'Eighteenth Amendment') of the United States Constitution, along with the Volstead Act (which defined "intoxicating liquors" excluding those used for religious purposes), established Prohibition in the United States. It is notable as the only amendment to the United States Constitution that has been repealed (by the twenty-first amendment). Equally notable, it is the only amendment to the Constitution to take away freedoms, rather than ensuring them.^[1][2]

Contents

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Proposal and ratification

References

External links

Text

The Senate passed the amendment on December 18 1917. The amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, having been approved by 36 states. It went into effect one year later on January 16, 1920. (Some state legislatures had already enacted statewide prohibition prior to the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment.)
When Congress submitted this amendment to the states for ratification, it was the first time that a proposed amendment had a provision that placed a deadline on ratification. The validity of the amendment was challenged on that basis in ''Dillon v. Gloss''. The Supreme Court ruled on the case in 1921, upholding the constitutionality of such deadlines.
Because of many Americans' dismay at the emergence of Prohibition, there was a considerable growth in organized crime in the United States in response to public demand for illegal alcohol. Considered a very unpopular law, the amendment was subsequently repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment on December 5 1933. It remains the only constitutional amendment to be repealed in its entirety.

Proposal and ratification

Congress proposed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 18, 1917.^[3] The following states ratified the amendment:
# Mississippi (January 8, 1918)
# Virginia (January 11, 1918)
# Kentucky (January 14, 1918)
# North Dakota (January 25, 1918)
# South Carolina (January 29, 1918)
# Maryland (February 13, 1918)
# Montana (February 19, 1918)
# Texas (March 4, 1918)
# Delaware (March 18, 1918)
# South Dakota (March 20, 1918)
# Massachusetts (April 2, 1918)
# Arizona (May 24, 1918)
# Georgia (June 26, 1918)
# Louisiana (August 3, 1918)
# Florida (December 3, 1918)
# Michigan (January 2, 1919)
# Ohio (January 7, 1919)
# Oklahoma (January 7, 1919)
# Idaho (January 8, 1919)
# Maine (January 8, 1919)
# West Virginia (January 9, 1919)
# California (January 13, 1919)
# Tennessee (January 13, 1919)
# Washington (January 13, 1919)
# Arkansas (January 14, 1919)
# Kansas (January 14, 1919)
# Alabama (January 15, 1919)
# Colorado (January 15, 1919)
# Iowa (January 15, 1919)
# New Hampshire (January 15, 1919)
# Oregon (January 15, 1919)
# Nebraska (January 16, 1919)
# North Carolina (January 16, 1919)
# Utah (January 16, 1919)
# Missouri (January 16, 1919)
# Wyoming (January 16, 1919)
Ratification was completed on January 16, 1919. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:
# Minnesota (January 17, 1919)
# Wisconsin (January 17, 1919)
# New Mexico (January 20, 1919)
# Nevada (January 21, 1919)
# New York (January 29, 1919)
# Vermont (January 29, 1919)
# Pennsylvania (February 25, 1919)
# Connecticut (May 6, 1919)
# New Jersey (March 9, 1922)
The amendment was rejected by the following state:
# Rhode Island

References

★ The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, , , , Government Printing Office, 2004,
1. Neil S. Siegel, "Beware the anti-freedom amendment" (2006)
2. Duke University News & Communications, "Amend with Care" (2006)
3. Ratification of Constitutional Amendments

External links

★ National Archives: 18th Amendment

★ CRS Annotated Constitution: 18th Amendment

★ Prohibition of Alcohol in the U.S.

★ Repeal of National Prohibition