Prohibition (1920 to 1933)

After the American Revolution, drinking was on the rise. To combat this, a number of societies were organized as part of a new Temperance movement. The state of Maine passed the first state prohibition law in 1846, and the Prohibition Party was established in 1869. The American Temperance Society, founded in 1826, encouraged voluntary abstinence from alcohol, and influenced many successor organizations, which advocated mandatory prohibition on the sale and import of alcoholic beverages.

The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, and went into effect one year later, on January 17, 1920. The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a period in American history known as Prohibition.

The act defined ‘intoxicating liquor’ as anything that contained one half of one per cent alcohol by volume, but allowed the sale of alcohol for medicinal, sacramental, or industrial purposes.

National prohibition of alcohol (1920–33) was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America.

When the Great Depression hit, potential tax revenue from alcohol sales became appealing to cash-strapped governments.

The Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, was ratified on December 5, 1933, conclusively ending the nation’s ban on the manufacture and distribution of alcohol.
Prohibition (1920 to 1933)