The Virtual Corkscrew Museum's Weekly Newspaper

Prohibition and Repeal

©1908 Young Peoples Christian Temperance Union Chicago

The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on January 16, 1919. On January 16, 1920 it went into effect. The Amendment read:

Section 1: 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 prohibited.

Section 2: The Congress and the several states shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3: 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 Congress.

The battle for and against was waged for many years

Motorists let their cars spread the word with "License Plates"

The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment and protected any state that wanted to keep prohibition. The relegalization of beer became effective April 7, 1933 and on this date liquor was legalized in 15 states and the District of Columbia. The Amendment read:

Section 1: The eighteenth amendment to the Constitution is hereby repealed.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 convention in several state, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by Congress.

The long dry period of the roaring twenties, bootleggers and speakeasies was over. As Kirby personified Prohibition: "No longer was he a tyrant - he was simply an exposed humbug whose fall had nothing of dignity nor anything deserving of pity. And now he is in extremis. He lies on a broken pallet in a forgotten attic..."

Start Over

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Introduction Andrew Volstead References The Facts Schuchardt's Patent Demley & More Flauder Patent Bridgewater Patent Syroco - Old Codger Openers Plus Death of a Puppet Kirby Conclusion The Drys Repeal

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