<P> Legislation concerning the legal minimum drinking age in the United States can be traced back to the days of prohibition . In 1920, the 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution declared it illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell intoxicating liquors . This was repealed with the passing of the 21st Amendment in 1933, which was followed by the adoption of minimum legal drinking age policies in all states, with most states electing a minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21 . Between 1970 and 1975, 29 states lowered the MLDA from 21 to 18, 19, or 20 . This was primarily due to the passing of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the required voting age from 21 to 18 . </P> <P> During the 1960s, both Congress and the state legislatures came under increasing pressure to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18 . This was in large part due to the Vietnam War, in which many young men who were ineligible to vote (or legally drink) were conscripted to fight in the war, thus lacking any means to influence the people sending them off to risk their lives . "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote," was a common slogan used by proponents of lowering the voting age . The slogan traced its roots to World War II, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the military draft age to eighteen . With the lowering of the voting age to 18, the MLDA was similarly lowered under the notion that by being able to vote (and for males, be subject to being involuntarily drafted into the enlisted ranks of the military), one should also be able to legally consume alcoholic beverages . </P> <P> However, these changes were soon followed by studies showing an increase in motor vehicle fatalities attributable to the decreased MLDA . In response to these findings, many states raised the minimum legal drinking age to 19 (and sometimes to 20 or 21). In 1984, the National Minimum Legal Drinking Act, written by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D - NJ) and influenced by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), required all states to enforce a minimum legal drinking age of 21 or else risk losing 10% of all federal highway construction funds . </P> <P> As the minimum legal drinking age was still left to the discretion of the state, the act did not violate the 21st amendment which reserved the right to regulate alcohol for all responsibilities not specifically appointed to the federal government to the states . However, as the act controlled the distribution of anywhere from 8 to 99 million dollars, depending on the size of the state, the act gave a strong incentive for states to change the drinking age to 21 . By 1995, all 50 states, two permanently inhabited territories, and D.C. were in compliance, but Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (and Guam until 2010) remained at 18 despite them losing 10% of federal highway funding . </P>

Is the drinking age 21 everywhere in the us