End of Prohibition in America. The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, ending alcohol prohibition. In early 1919, the 18th Amendment had banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors in the country. To enforce the amendment, Congress passed the Volstead Act, which authorized the Treasury Department to establish its own task force. In the first six months, this force destroyed thousands of black market distilleries. But federal agents and police only succeeded in slowing the flow of alcohol, and organized crime flourished in the country. Prohibition, which failed to enforce sobriety, lost popular support, and in early 1933, Congress proposed the 21st Amendment, repealing the 18th. On December 5, 1933, Prohibition officially ended when Utah ratified the amendment, the 36th in the United States, completing the required three-quarters majority vote.
