TWENTY-FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

'Amendment XXI' (the 'Twenty-first Amendment') to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition.

Contents

Background

The Amendment

Text

Intent

Passage

Implementation

State and local control

Court rulings

See also

References

External links

Background

The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution had ushered in a period of time known as "Prohibition", during which the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages was made illegal. Passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, in 1919, was the crowning achievement of the temperance movement, but it soon proved highly unpopular. As more and more Americans came to the conclusion that the Eighteenth Amendment had been an error, movement grew for a repeal. However, repeal was complicated by grass-roots politics.
Although the US Constitution provides two methods for ratifying constitutional amendments, only one method had been used up to this point in time. That method was for the proposed amendment to be ratified by the state legislatures of three-fourths of the states. However, the conventional wisdom of the day was that the state legislators of many states were either beholden to or simply fearful of the temperance lobby. For this reason, when Congress formally proposed the repeal of Prohibition on December 5, 1933 (with the requisite two-thirds having voted in favor in each house; 63 to 21 in the Senate and 289 to 121 in the House) they chose to utilize the alternate ratification method: state conventions. To date, this is the only Amendment to have been sent to the states for ratification by this method.

The Amendment

Text

Intent

The framers of the 21st Amendment hoped to provide some measure of satisfaction to temperance advocates, by explicitly making provisions for local control of alcohol sales. The amendment allows for states, and, where legal under state law, municipalities with the power to prohibit alcohol sales within their boundaries.

Passage

The Twenty-first Amendment was fully ratified on December 5, 1933. It is the only Amendment thus far ratified by state conventions, specially selected for the purpose; whereas all other amendments have been ratified by state legislatures. It is also the only amendment that was passed for the explicit and nearly sole purpose of repealing an ''earlier'' amendment to the Constitution.
Congress proposed the Twenty-first Amendment on February 20, 1933.^[1] The following states ratified the amendment:
# Michigan (April 10, 1933)
# Wisconsin (April 25, 1933)
# Rhode Island (May 8, 1933)
# Wyoming (May 25, 1933)
# New Jersey (June 1, 1933)
# Delaware (June 24, 1933)
# Indiana (June 26, 1933)
# Massachusetts (June 26, 1933)
# New York (June 27, 1933)
# Illinois (July 10, 1933)
# Iowa (July 10, 1933)
# Connecticut (July 11, 1933)
# New Hampshire (July 11, 1933)
# California (July 24, 1933)
# West Virginia (July 25, 1933)
# Arkansas (August 1, 1933)
# Oregon (August 7, 1933)
# Alabama (August 8, 1933)
# Tennessee (August 11, 1933)
# Missouri (August 29, 1933)
# Arizona (September 5, 1933)
# Nevada (September 5, 1933)
# Vermont (September 23, 1933)
# Colorado (September 26, 1933)
# Washington (October 3, 1933)
# Minnesota (October 10, 1933)
# Idaho (October 17, 1933)
# Maryland (October 18, 1933)
# Virginia (October 25, 1933)
# New Mexico (November 2, 1933)
# Florida (November 14, 1933)
# Texas (November 24, 1933)
# Kentucky (November 27, 1933)
# Ohio (December 5, 1933)
# Pennsylvania (December 5, 1933)
# Utah (December 5, 1933)
Ratification was completed on December 5, 1933. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:
# Maine (December 6, 1933)
# Montana (August 6, 1934)
In addition, the following state rejected the amendment:
# South Carolina (December 4, 1933)

Implementation

State and local control

The second section bans the importation of alcohol in violation of state or territorial law.
This has been interpreted to give states essentially absolute control over grain alcohol, and many U.S. states still remained "dry" (with state prohibition of alcohol) long after its ratification. (Mississippi was the last, remaining dry until 1966). Many states now delegate the authority over alcohol granted to them by this Amendment to their municipalities and/or counties, which has led to many lawsuits over First Amendment rights when local governments have tried to revoke liquor licenses.

Court rulings

Court rulings involving this amendment have been rare.
In Craig v. Boren (1976), the Supreme Court found that analysis of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment had not been changed by the passage of the 21st Amendment.
In South Dakota v. Dole (1987), the Supreme Court upheld the withholding of 5% of federal highway funds to South Dakota because they allowed 3.2% beer to be sold to persons under the age of 21. In a 7-2 decision, Chief Justice Rehnquist held that the offer of benefits is not coercion that inappropriately invades state sovereignty. Justice O'Connor dissented, arguing that the relationship between the highway funds and the drinking age regulation was too attenuated.
In May 2005, the Supreme Court decided in ''Granholm v. Heald'' (2005), by a 5–4 majority, that the 21st Amendment does not overrule the Dormant Commerce Clause with respect to alcohol sales, and states must treat in-state and out-of-state wineries equally.

See also

★ Alcohol laws of the United States by state

★ Alcoholic beverage control state

References

1. Ratification of Constitutional Amendments

External links

★ National Archives: 21st Amendment

★ CRS Annotated Constitution: 21st Amendment