National Prohibition Ends in the United States

On December 5, 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment and ending National Prohibition after nearly thirteen years. Earlier that year, the Cullen–Harrison Act had already permitted the manufacture and sale of beer containing no more than 3.2 percent alcohol by weight, but the Twenty-first Amendment formally removed the constitutional ban on the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating beverages. Repeal did not create a single unrestricted national alcohol market. Section 2 of the Twenty-first Amendment preserved substantial state authority over the importation and distribution of alcoholic beverages, allowing states and local jurisdictions to maintain their own restrictions. Breweries could legally return to conventional production, but many companies had disappeared during Prohibition, while surviving firms faced the costs of rebuilding breweries, distribution networks, and regulated markets.