Which amendment to the U.S. Constitution established Prohibition in 1920?

The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution established Prohibition in 1920.

Congress proposed the amendment on December 18, 1917, and the states ratified it on January 16, 1919. It prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquor nationwide. Prohibition officially took effect on January 17, 1920, after Congress passed the Volstead Act to define “intoxicating liquors” and provide enforcement rules.

The amendment grew out of the long temperance movement, whose supporters argued that alcohol contributed to poverty, crime, family hardship, and workplace problems. It did not directly ban possessing or consuming alcohol, a detail often missed in simplified accounts. Enforcement was difficult, and bootlegging, speakeasies, and organized crime expanded in many places.

The Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5, 1933. That makes the Eighteenth Amendment the only constitutional amendment later repealed by another amendment. The Nineteenth Amendment instead expanded voting rights for women, while the Twenty-first ended Prohibition.