Amendment, Twenty-First

Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1933, that repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, thereby ending the period of Prohibition (1920–33). This was the first amendment to directly repeal another.

Although the Eighteenth Amendment did reduce alcohol consumption in the USA, there was widespread disdain for the law. Speakeasies for illicit drinking sprang up, and organized crime activity increased, especially in Chicago, Illinois, and towns near the Canadian border. Police often violated civil rights in the searches and seizures of bootlegging equipment. Public opinion began to sway against Prohibition, particularly at the start of the depression in 1929, and resulted in the election of anti-prohibition legislators. The Twenty-First Amendment was ratified less that ten months after it was passed by Congress.

The Twenty-First Amendment does, however, prohibit the transport of alcohol between states, providing federal support to states that enact their own dry laws.