The Border Collie Chronicles Observations from (arguably) the World's Smartest Dogs; (but, without question, the bestest friends!) or, Life As We Understand It, as told from dad's shop. |
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Posted April 11, 2015 |
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The
Constitutional Origins of National Beer Day
(We didn't write it, this article was stolen from
http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2015/04/the-constitutional-origins-of-national-beer-day/)
April 7 is a day celebrated nationally by beer lovers as a big
anniversary near the end of Prohibition in 1933, when legal beer
sales returned in the United States for the first time in 13 years.
Prohibition was one of the great constitutional experiments of the
20th century. Between
1919, when the 18th Amendment banned the sale, making and
transportation of booze, and late 1933, when the 21st
Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, Americans found
lots of ways to keep drinking with the help of a few unsavory
friends and some resourceful home brewing techniques.
With the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in November 1932,
Prohibition was dealt a fatal blow. The
new Congress made it a priority to repeal anti-alcohol statutes, but
even at a fast pace, it would take months to draft a constitutional
amendment to cover all intoxicating spirits.
The Roosevelt administration was faced by a thirsty American public
that also faced a crippling Depression.
So as a compromise or interim
solution, the President and Congress found a way to bring beer and
wine back until the 21st Amendment could legalize all
forms of booze.
Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Act on March 22, 1933.
It amended the much-hated
Volstead Act of 1919, which was the act of Congress that enabled the
18th Amendment and Prohibition.
Back in 1919, some of the
politicians who voted for Prohibition assumed that beer and wine
sales wouldn’t be banned – just hard liquors – until Prohibitionists
used the Volstead Act to broaden the booze ban.
The Cullen-Harrison Act allowed people to buy and drink low-alcohol
content beer and wine in public, but it didn’t go into effect until
April 7.
On that fateful day, large headlines in newspapers across the nation
said the beer was back as the taps opened in 19 states.
In St. Louis, the Budweiser
Clydesdales made their first public appearance as they pulled a beer
wagon through the city.
In Washington, the owner of the Abner-Drury Brewery ordered a
guarded truck to depart at 12:01 a.m. for the White House, with two
cases of beer for President Roosevelt.
The shipment arrived along
with a local press contingent, only to discover that Roosevelt was
asleep. The Marine who was
guarding the beer opened the first symbolic beer bottle and drank it
so that the press could get photographs.
Later, the President sent the
beer cases to the National Press Club.
In Chicago, an estimated $5 million in beer sales happened on April
7, 1933. There were few
reports of arrests. In
Hollywood, actress Jean Harlow christened a beer delivery truck.
The Cullen-Harrison Act didn’t have a long lifespan.
It was voided when Utah
became the 36th state to ratify the 21st
Amendment in December 1933.
Here’s to you!!!! |
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Of COURSE, we have beer quotes, please … partake and enjoy!: |
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Here's to
a long life and a merry one
Once,
during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but
food and water.
~W.C. Fields
Beware,
froth is not beer.
~Danish Proverb, quoted by Henry G. Bohn
I feel
sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning,
that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
~Frank Sinatra
A herd of
buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo.
And when the
herd is hunted, it is the lowest and weakest ones at the back that
are killed first.
This
natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the
general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the
regular killing of the weakest members.
In much the same
way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain
cells. Now,
as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells.
But naturally,
it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.
In this way,
regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells,
making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
And that is why
you always feel smarter after a few beers.
~Norm on “Cheers”
It takes
only one drink to get me drunk.
The trouble is, I can't remember if it's the
thirteenth or the fourteenth.
~George Burns
Beer is
the cause and solution to all of life's problems.
~Homer Simpson
Reality is
an illusion caused by a lack of good beer.
~Author Unknown
Every loaf
of bread is a tragic story of grains that could've become beer.
~Author Unknown
Don't
trust a brilliant idea unless it survives the hangover.
~Jimmy
Breslin
They speak of my drinking, but never
think of my thirst.
~Scottish Proverb
Our Lager,
which art in barrels,
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