Amendment 21

Passed by Congress February 20, 1933. Ratified December 5, 1933.

Section 1.

The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2.

The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3.

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

This is a rather straight forward amendment in that the first section simply repeals the 18th amendment which allowed people to purchase alcohol for consumption legally again. The second section allows for states to make their own laws regarding liquor and that entities are prohibited from violating those laws. Lastly, section 3 again reserves powers to Congress to pass laws related to this amendment as they see the need.

I think more interesting than the actual amendment is the effects it had on the country and specifically the market place. It has been said by Daniel Okrent, author of the book Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition that with the repeal of the 18th amendment it became harder to purchase alcohol because of the patchwork of laws by state and county that sprung up in its absence.