The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.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.
The first direct repeal of any amendment, this amendment gave control of alcohol laws to each State. A slight variation of previous amendments that have been increasing national government power, this is an increase in state government (very similar to the Bill of Rights). Towards the end of the Prohibition era, people began to realize the toll it was taking on the country. The crime rate had skyrocketed as bootleggers and the like were taking advantage of supply and demand opportunities, a national revenue had been eliminated as well as the taxes that came along with it, and too many people were participating in illegal activities now that alcohol was banned. So the solution was to repeal the amendment and let the states decide whether to ban it or not, overall a very smart move.
People were overjoyed that they could finally and legally partake in their mood-altering substance of choice.
A post-Prohibition newsreel shows the boom of industry following this repeal.
For more information about this amendment, click here.
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