Just yesterday I presented a glass to one of my Buzzy visitors knowing that she prefers to sip her beer out of a glass. However, she declined it and informed me that she was doing Dry January.
I had forgotten that there was such a thing. But it did get me wondering about the origins of Dry January. For a good article on the history of it (click here.)
In the little bit of googling I did on Dry January however, I did not see any mention of the fact that it was on this day in 1919 that the Eighteenth Amendment prohibiting alcohol sales was ratified by the States. The Amendment had been approved by Congress in 1917, but needed two thirds of the States to ratify it before it became law.
Ultimately, 46 States ratified the Amendment with Connecticut and Rhode Island the only two states that did not do so. Remember that in 1919 we only had 48 States. (For the record, Maryland was the sixth State to ratify it.)
Quick aside here – It is interesting to note that of all the Amendments to our Constitution, the 18th was the only one that took a right away from people. All the others involved recognizing and giving rights. That the 18th Amendment was ultimately repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment, demonstrated its unpopularity and how dumb an idea it was.
Check out the following video:
Music video music video related to this subject courtesy of Frank Crumit: