Prohibition in the United States was the period from 1920 to 1933 during which the manufacture, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages were prohibited nationwide. It was introduced under the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified on January 16, 1919, and took effect one year later on January 17, 1920. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment on December 5, 1933, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and ended the national alcohol ban.
To summarize key dates:
- Eighteenth Amendment ratified: January 16, 1919
- Prohibition begins: January 17, 1920
- Prohibition ends (21st Amendment ratified): December 5, 1933
