Can you imagine a time when alcohol was illegal, when wine stores had to seal their doors shut, when you could no longer enjoy Pinot Noir or Chardonnay? That did happen in our country once and fortunately the laws were over turned.
Raise a toast tomorrow and celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition!
On December 5, 1933, President Roosevelt signed the Twenty-First Amendment into law, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment which had prohibited alcohol. Prohibition failed and caused many problems, such as increased crime. It also devastated the American wine industry. The Twenty-First Amendment only repealed Federal prohibitionary laws and the states had a choice whether to repeal their own laws or not. It took until 1966 for all states to fully repeal their Prohibition laws, Mississippi being the last to repeal all of their laws.
You can check out the Repeal of Prohibition site for more information and facts about Prohibition and its repeal.
I will be raising a toast tomorrow and be happy that wine is no longer illegal, that I can still purcahse a bottle of vodka.
Minor point. Being a constitutional amendment, the repeal was not subject to Presidential approval. The amendment went into effect on December 5th, 1933 as on that day, the requisite number of states required to approve a constitutional amendment was reached (interestingly enough, it was Utah that put it over the top).
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