Repeal Day

Yesterday was Repeal Day.  Don't know what that is?  It is the day that the United States ratified the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment, and ending national Prohibition.  I saw several articles, most lite on History and strong on how bars have started using Repeal Day as an excuse to throw a party.



Mixed in with the tales of revelry, I also saw a few "politically" themed articles as well.  Coming from the Right side of the political spectrum, these articles hailed repeal as a triumph of individual rights over progressive "values"and misplaced "big government" programs.

This line of "attack" on Prohibition have always struck me as interesting.  First, because they conflate modern liberals who claim the mantle of Progressive for their own with the historical Progressives of the early twentieth century, a group that is much more complex than modern political labels often capture.  Second, they often make an economic argument for repeal (mimicking many of the attacks of New Deal era wets) which don't hold up to the historic evidence (the 1920s economy did just fine without legal drinking, unemployment was hardly caused by Prohibition, and repeal did not end the Great Depression). Thirdly, they hold Prohibition to an impossible legal standard (100% acceptance) that no other law is expected to meet. And lastly, they ignore the complex moral reasons that caused many to support Prohibition to begin with (not to mention how different drinking was before Prohibition versus after repeal became).

One of the great things about the study of Prohibition for me (I have written two books on the subject after all) is finding out just how much we assume we know about Prohibition versus what actually happened.

So, when Repeal Day comes along next year, feel free to raise a glass.  But take a moment before you do to understand the complex History behind what you are toasting.