On January 16, 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment was ratified, after years of campaigning by prohibition proponents. The amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale or distribution of “intoxicating liquors” within the United States. The Volstead Act was passed later in the year to enforce the law federally, but states could also enact legislation to criminalize and regulate intoxicating liquors. The federal act became effective in 1920.
Due to the rise in crime from illegal liquor, the loss of tax revenue from the sale of liquor, and the change in public support, the Amendment was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933. It remains the only Amendment to have been repealed.
