Amendment XXI
Ratified: December 5, 1933
Summary
Repeals the 18th Amendment (Prohibition).
Full Text
The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
History and Context
The Twenty-first Amendment holds a unique distinction: it is the only amendment ever passed to repeal another. By 1933, the 'noble experiment' of Prohibition was widely seen as a disaster. It had failed to eliminate drinking and had instead created a massive black market that fueled the rise of violent organized crime. Furthermore, with the nation in the grips of the Great Depression, the government desperately needed the tax revenue that would come from legal alcohol sales. The amendment's passage marked the end of a failed constitutional experiment and a victory for those who believed that the government could not, and should not, legislate morality on such a scale.