Colonial Disco: Why 21?
In this episode we answer the question that every 18 year old in the United States has asked at one point or another: Why is the U.S. drinking age 21 years old? If you are old enough to vote, go to war, and own land then certainly you must be old enough to drink, right?! Right? Well in today's episode, we set out to answer (and perhaps even challenge) that question. From colonial tabletops to Midwest highways, we will leave no stone unturned as dive into this surprising story. Enjoy!
This is the story of how the drinking age in the United States became 21. If you enjoyed this episode consider checking out the resources we used to make it:
- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/19437/why-drinking-age-21
- https://www.teenvogue.com/story/minimum-drinking-age-legal-21-america-history
- https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0386-21-legal-drinking-age
- https://drinkingage.procon.org/state-history-of-mlda-21/
- https://www.boston.com/culture/health/2014/07/17/why-21-a-look-at-our-nations-drinking-age/
- New Hampshire Public Radio https://www.nhpr.org/politics/2020-10-23/ask-civics-101-why-is-our-voting-age-18
- NHTSA https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/810942
- https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/AA67/AA67.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Minimum_Drinking_Age_Act
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-sixth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_driving_in_the_United_States
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._history_of_alcohol_minimum_purchase_age_by_state