21st Amendment ended Prohibition

21st Amendment ended Prohibition

December 5, 2009 05:00:00 am

On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, ending the ban on the legal sale and importation of alcohol that had been introduced in 1919 by the 18th Amendment.

Learn how the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers helped bring about Prohibition’s repeal.

THIS DAY @ LAW

West Germany becomes a sovereign nation

On May 5, 1955, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) became a fully sovereign nation. Four days later on May 9, West Germany joined NATO. West Germany then became a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1958. Read the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz), which served as the constitution of West Germany and became the governing document of the reunited Germany in 1990.

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On May 5, 1925, high school science teacher John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution in the Tennessee public schools. Learn more about the Scopes Monkey Trial.