Amendment XVIII
Prohibition of Intoxicating Liquors
Ratified January 16, 1919
Prohibition was the culmination of decades of temperance activism. Its failure — marked by widespread bootlegging, organized crime, and contempt for the law — stands as a cautionary lesson about attempting to use constitutional amendment to legislate social behavior.
Full Text
Section 1.
After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
Section 2.
The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 3.
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Annotated Version
The Amendments XI–XXVII document includes phrase highlights and court case references for this amendment.
Constitutional Framework
Original Text
U.S. Constitution
Articles I–VII (1787). The three branches, enumerated powers, and the framework these amendments modify.
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Amendments I–X
Bill of Rights
Ratified December 15, 1791. Freedom of religion, speech, press, arms, due process, and more.
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Amendments XI–XXVII
Later Amendments
Ratified 1795–1992. Abolition of slavery, equal protection, women's suffrage, and more.
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