Utah – Sharing History

On December 5, 1933, the Eighteenth Amendment was officially repealed, ending American prohibition. The repeal required committees from 36 states to vote unanimously to pass. The 36^th state to vote for the repeal and end prohibition was an unlikely one: Utah.

The temperance movement began in the early 19^th century and was largely championed by women. Early 19^th century men were drinking three times as much alcohol as they do today, and the drinking led to gambling and abuse. In an effort to protect their livelihoods, their children, and their physical safety, women encouraged Americans to vote to outlaw alcohol at a federal level. On January 6, 1919, the 18^th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, outlawing the production and distribution of alcohol in the US. However, the beginning of prohibition did not mean the end of drinking. Instead, illegal activity ran amok. People were brewing in their basements and opening speakeasies. In fact, the explosion of organized crime is attributed to prohibition because it encouraged gangs to build nationwide networks to make and ship alcohol. The prohibition experiment had failed.

In 1933, the 21^st Amendment was drafted. It would overturn the 18^th Amendment and end prohibition. States were asked to create conventions of delegates to vote on the passage of the repeal. Utah created its own convention and began considering whether repeal was right. Utah was already considered a “dry” state before prohibition was passed as they had banned alcohol in 1917. The support for temperance among Utahns was not surprising given the fact that the state was made up mostly of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, whose religion famously calls for abstinence from alcohol. When the repeal came up for a vote, church leadership encouraged their members to vote to maintain prohibition. However, Utahns, like many other Americans felt that the illegal activity prompted by prohibition was worse than the effects of alcohol itself. Additionally, the effects of the Great Depression were hitting Americans hard and the money the country and states would earn in alcohol tax was too good to pass up. In a preliminary vote, approximately 60% of Utahns voted to repeal prohibition. On December 5, 1933, the convention of delegates voted the same, and Utah became the 36^th and deciding state to pass the 21^st Amendment.

The end of prohibition did not turn the country into a free-for-all binge fest. It simply allowed the states to decide how to regulate the manufacture and distribution of alcohol. Many states, including Utah, decided to very strictly regulate the sale of alcohol, making it, in many cases, more difficult to obtain alcohol after prohibition ended than while it was in effect. However, the day after the vote, newspaper headlines celebrated, reading, “Prohibition Is Dead! Mormons Killed It!”

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Tag: Utah

The Driest State in the Union Repeals Prohibition