Wyoming’s Second Constitutional Convention and the Repeal of Prohibition
Wyoming’s Second Constitutional Convention and the Repeal of Prohibition

Wyoming’s Second Constitutional Convention and the Repeal of Prohibition

This week is the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition in Wyoming. The full story may be found here. https://wyomingalmanac.com/?page_id=360 Chapter 16

On May 25, 1933, 64 men and one woman representing all 23 Wyoming counties met briefly in the Casper City Hall. All had been selected two weeks earlier in county conventions to attend the second constitutional convention in state history. The agenda, prepared by the Secretary of State earlier in the month, had the usual formalities, but on it was just one substantive item—ratification of the 21st Amendment repealing national prohibition.  The welcoming address was made by a councilman–not by the mayor of Casper because the mayor (along with the chief of police and the county sheriff) was under indictment for violating the very law that the convention was convened to change–Prohibition of liquor.

Unlike the first constitutional convention, held for 25 days in September 1889, when no women served as delegates, there was a woman delegate in 1933–but just one woman.  The men at that first convention drafted the lengthy state Constitution for what would become the 44th state the following July 10.  The Constitution, much amended since, essentially remains the same document passed by delegates and ratified by voters that following November in the year before statehood.[1] (More on New History of Wyoming, chap, 16, this website).

By Phil Roberts, University of Wyoming

A version of this article appeared as: ”Wyoming’s Second Constitutional Convention and the Repeal of Prohibition,” Annals of Wyoming 83 (Autumn 2011), pp. 10-31