Legal Definitions - Eighteenth Amendment

The Eighteenth Amendment was a significant change to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1919. It established a nationwide ban on the production, sale, transportation, and possession of alcoholic beverages. This period in American history is widely known as Prohibition. The Eighteenth Amendment remained in effect for 14 years until it was officially canceled, or "repealed," by the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933.

Here are some examples illustrating the impact of the Eighteenth Amendment:

• Imagine a small-town entrepreneur in 1925 who decides to convert an old warehouse into a secret facility for brewing beer. If discovered, this individual would be in violation of the Eighteenth Amendment because it explicitly prohibited the manufacture of alcoholic beverages.

• Consider a hidden establishment, often called a "speakeasy," operating in a bustling city during the 1920s. Patrons would enter through a secret door, provide a password, and then be served cocktails. Both the owner of the speakeasy, for the sale of alcohol, and the patrons, for the possession of alcohol on the premises, would be breaking the law as defined by the Eighteenth Amendment.

• Picture a scenario where a driver is pulled over by federal agents on a rural highway in 1930, and their vehicle is found to be loaded with crates of whiskey smuggled from Canada. The act of moving these alcoholic beverages across state lines would constitute illegal transportation under the provisions of the Eighteenth Amendment.