Constitution (Amendment No. 21) Act 1933

The Constitution (Amendment No. 21) Act, 1933, refers to the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, which had established Prohibition in the United States.

The Eighteenth Amendment, ratified in 1919, had prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors. However, it proved difficult to enforce and led to widespread illegal activities, including bootlegging and the rise of organized crime. Public opinion gradually shifted against Prohibition, and calls for its repeal grew stronger.

The Twenty-first Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933, effectively ending Prohibition at the national level. Section 1 of the amendment explicitly repeals the Eighteenth Amendment. Section 2 allows individual states to maintain their own laws regarding alcohol, meaning that some states could continue to prohibit or regulate alcohol within their borders even after the federal ban was lifted. Section 3 stipulated that the amendment had to be ratified by state conventions rather than state legislatures, reflecting a desire to gauge public opinion more directly.

The ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment marked a significant turning point in American history, reversing a controversial social experiment and returning the regulation of alcohol to the states, subject to certain federal oversight. The amendment remains a significant part of the U.S. Constitution and a testament to the capacity for constitutional change in response to evolving social and political realities.