On this date 107 years ago, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Amendment XVIII) established the prohibition of alcohol—specifically its manufacture, sale, and transportation —in our nation. (NOTICE: how the word “consumption” was not included. But more on that later-ish). The amendment had actually been proposed by Congress back on December 18, 1917, and just over a year later, on January 16, 1919, it was ratified by the required number of states.
EXACTLY ONE YEAR LATER …
On January 16, 1920—the night before the law officially took effect—widespread public displays of grief and final indulgences swept the country. Many restaurants and saloons famously draped their tables and bars in black cloth on that final night to mourn the end of the legal era of drinking in America.
Final Celebrations:
Crowds flocked to bars to consume their last legal drinks before the clock struck midnight—a moment many referred to as “The Funeral of John Barleycorn,” a folkloric name representing the personification of alcohol itself...
Economic Impact:
Thousands of business owners and workers—including: brewers, barkeeps, coopers, distillers,, inkeepers, malsters, mixologists, saloonkeepers, tavern owners, vintners, and waitstaff—were suddenly faced with immediate unemployment as their entire industry became illegal overnight. In this way, those public displays also represented the death and mourning of once-thriving livelihoods.
Curious to know which states dragged their feet and were not among the 36 required to ratify the amendment—and which two states outright rejected it, never fully enforcing Prohibition with state-sanctioned resources? Or what that year between 1919 and 1920 was really like as the country barreled toward that final night of legal drinking?
Curious to know which states dragged their feet and were NOT among the 36 required to ratify the amendment — and which two states outright REJECTED it, never fully enforcing Prohibition with state-sanctioned resources? Or what that year between 1919 and 1920 was really like as the country barreled toward that LAST NIGHT OF LEGAL DRINKING in Americah?
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