PROHIBITION ENDS:

I found this lost in cyber space...................LOL...........................PEACE...............Scott


December 5, 1933

The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, repealing the 18th
Amendment and bringing an end to the era of national prohibition of alcohol in
America. At 5:32 p.m. EST, Utah became the 36th state to ratify the amendment,
achieving the requisite three-fourths majority of states' approval. Pennsylvania
and Ohio had ratified it earlier in the day.The movement for the prohibition of
alcohol began in the early 19th century, when Americans concerned about the
adverse effects of drinking began forming temperance societies. By the late 19th
century, these groups had become a powerful political force, campaigning on the
state level and calling for national liquor abstinence. Several states outlawed
the manufacture or sale of alcohol within their own borders. In December 1917,
the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of
intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes," was passed by Congress and sent to
the states for ratification. On January 29, 1919, the 18th Amendment achieved
the necessary three-fourths majority of state ratification. Prohibition
essentially began in June of that year, but the amendment did not officially
take effect until January 29, 1920.In the meantime, Congress passed the Volstead
Act on October 28, 1919, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. The Volstead Act
provided for the enforcement of Prohibition, including the creation of a special
Prohibition unit of the Treasury Department. In its first six months, the unit
destroyed thousands of illicit stills run by bootleggers. However, federal
agents and police did little more than slow the flow of booze, and organized
crime flourished in America. Large-scale bootleggers like Al Capone of Chicago
built criminal empires out of illegal distribution efforts, and federal and
state governments lost billions in tax revenue. In most urban areas, the
individual consumption of alcohol was largely tolerated and drinkers gathered at
"speakeasies," the Prohibition-era term for saloons.Prohibition, failing fully
to enforce sobriety and costing billions, rapidly lost popular support in the
early 1930s. In 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was passed and
ratified, ending national Prohibition. After the repeal of the 18th Amendment,
some states continued Prohibition by maintaining statewide temperance laws.
Mississippi, the last dry state in the Union, ended Prohibition in 1966.