If you’re reading this, chances are you live in D.C. If you live in D.C., chances are you have at least a small political geek flag to fly. Today’s your chance to shine. Stop limiting your nerdiness to naming freshman Representatives at the State of the Union, and throw down at a bar tonight in celebration of the Constitution! Yes, Washington, today is the 73rd anniversary of the 21st Amendment’s ratification. What better way to celebrate the re-legalization of hooch than drinking the selfsame hooch? There is none, but before the festivities, a little history.

Way back in the 19th Century, some concerned women of America decided something needed to be done. They were tired of the shiftless and rowdy drunks littering the streets (and the workplaces). They had seen the hell the devil’s water had wrought on America’s social fabric, and they sought to instill the virtue of temperance in the heart of every citizen. After all, it was an effort to save the institutions of family and home.

But alcohol was popular. People find a certain pleasure in knocking back a few with their friends. But sometimes people found it a little too pleasurable and got blotto. Nothing pissed off Mrs. Jedediah Monroe more than finding Mr. Jedediah Monroe passed out drunk on the front stoop. Furthermore, it took hours and a heaping cup of Borax to get the crude wax pencil drawing of a bull moose having its way with an elephant off Mr. Monroe’s face. Enough was enough!