Milestones: March 22, 2024

March 22, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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ORGANIZED RESISTANCE — THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT ON MARCH 22, 1765. IMPOSED THE STAMP ACT ON ITS COLONIES AS A REVENUE-RAISEER TO PAY OFF DEBTS and to defend the territory it won from its rival, France, during the Seven Years’ War. This direct tax applied to all materials printed for commercial and legal use, and covered newspapers and pamphlets, even gaming items like playing cards and dice. But the colonists, already hit with taxes on sugar, paper and textiles, plus that same year’s Quartering Act that required them to house and feed British troops, finally solidified their collective response, forming societies that pushed back against the British government on the grounds that it was stifling their very economic strength, and that it as exploiting and pillaging America’s resources. Nine of the 13 colonies sent delegates to A Stamp Act Congress, convened to draft the “Declaration of Rights and Grievances,” which denounced the autocratic policies of the mercantilist British empire.

The British government did eventually realize that it would cost more to enforce than to abolish the Stamp Act, and the next year repealed it.

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DERAILED AT THE END — THE U.S. SENATE PASSED THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT ON MARCH 22, 1972, and sent it to the states for ratification. The bill read simply, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.” NY Congressperson Bella Abzug of Manhattan and feminists Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, who led the fight to enact the E.R.A., had already won the two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives the prior October. It needed three-quarters of the states to ratify, with a seven-year time limit clause that was ultimately extended to 1982. Hawaii was the first state to ratify. However, a firebrand conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly then went on a campaign to derail the amendment, arguing that it was not truly beneficial to women, who, she feared, would lose certain rights and benefits from being dependent on their husbands. She positioned herself as a spokesperson for traditional women, with a strategy, at least one news columnist observed, of conjuring up “worst-case scenarios.” Ultimately the E.R.A. was three states’ votes short of the ratification needed to become the 27th Amendment.

The E.R.A. was first proposed by the National Woman’s Political Party in 1923, almost five decades before its passage through both houses of Congress.

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ALCOHOL AS REVENUE — PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, IN THE SAME MONTH AS HIS FIRST INAUGURATION, signed the Beer and Wine Revenue Act on March 22, 1933. The bill, which levied a federal tax on all alcoholic beverages and regulated their sales, was essentially approving their use. Prohibition (the Volstead Act) enacted in January 1919 through the 18th Amendment had banned the possession and sale of alcoholic beverages, but it proved both difficult and costly to enforce; it also led to increased trafficking. Upon taking office, President Roosevelt, who was no fan of the temperance movement, modified the Volstead Act with the Beer and Wine Revenue Act, arguing that the new taxes would generate much-needed revenue; in fact, it became part of the New Deal that was meant to catapult the U.S. economy from the Great Depression.

Nine months after the Beer and Wine Revenue Act took effect, Congress passed the 21st Amendment; its ratification officially ended the Prohibition era.

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ARAB LEAGUE FORMED — THE ARAB LEAGUE WAS ESTABLISHED ON March 22, 1945, when representatives from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen met in Cairo to establish a regional organization of Arab states to build economic growth and support each other. The Arab League’s objectives were also to resolve disputes between its members and coordinate political aims. Member nations formed a council, with each state receiving a vote. Eventually, 15 Arab nations joined the Arab League, establishing a common market in 1965.

Today, the Arab League has 22 member nations, including all of the Saudi peninsula, northern Africa and the eastern African nation of Somalia. There are several observer states in countries that have significant Arab populations, including Brazil and Venezuela, India, Eritrea and, more recently, Armenia.

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GAME USING FRUIT BASKETS — THE FIRST WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL GAME TOOK PLACE IN THE 19TH CENTURY. It was played on March 22, 1893, at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. The school’s gymnastics instructor, a Lithuanian immigrant named Senda Berenson, adopted the game within two years after Dr. James Naismith originally invented it in 1891. At that time, actual fruit baskets were used, with the game’s objective being to hit a soccer ball into peach baskets suspended at opposite ends of a court. Each successful basket counted one point and the entire game lasted half an hour of official time, with two 15-minute halves. During the first game, the sophomores prevailed over the freshmen.

Being a women’s college, Smith did not allow men inside the gym, so they couldn’t attend. But a crowd of other women, fascinated with the game, cheered on the players.

See previous milestones, here.