pbsthisdayinhistory:

January 16, 1919: U.S. Ratifies the 18th Amendment
 
On this day in 1919, anti-alcohol activists proclaimed success when the Eighteenth Amendment was ratified. Taking effect the following year, it banned the consumption and sale of alcohol.

The Eighteenth Amendment stated: “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or exploration thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.”
 
Prohibition didn’t last very long. In 1933, Congress repealed the Eighteenth Amendment through the passing of the Twenty-first Amendment.

Check out more photos from Ken Burns’s Prohibition photo gallery!