March 22 Birthday
On March 22, 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act, requiring that all printed materials in the American colonies — newspapers, legal documents, playing cards, almanacs — be produced on stamped paper purchased from government-appointed distributors. The tax was modest, but the principle was explosive: it was the first direct tax Parliament had imposed on the colonies, and the colonists had no representation in Parliament. The cry "No taxation without representation" was born. The colonies organized boycotts of British goods, and within a year, Parliament repealed the act. But the damage was done. The Stamp Act convinced colonial leaders that Parliament could not be trusted, and the committees of correspondence that organized resistance became the infrastructure of revolution. The Equal Rights Amendment passed Congress on March 22, 1972, by votes of 354-24 in the House and 84-8 in the Senate. The amendment stated: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." It was sent to the states with a seven-year deadline for ratification. Congress extended the deadline to 1982. By then, only thirty-five of the required thirty-eight states had ratified. Five states rescinded their ratifications. The amendment failed. In 2020, Virginia became the thirty-eighth state to ratify — but the original deadline had long passed, and the rescissions raised legal questions. The ERA has never been added to the Constitution. The practical effects of the amendment are debated — many of its goals were achieved through legislation and court decisions — but its failure remains a symbol of unfinished business. The first Stanley Cup playoff game was played on March 22, 1894, at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal. The Montreal Hockey Club defeated the Ottawa Capitals 3-1. The Stanley Cup had been donated in 1892 by Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada, as a challenge cup for Canada's amateur hockey champion. It cost $48.67. The Cup is the only trophy in professional sports that is passed directly from the previous champion to the new one, rather than replaced each year. Each player on the winning team gets to spend a day with the Cup, a tradition that has resulted in the Cup being used as a cereal bowl, a baptismal font, a jello mold, and an item left on the side of a road. Stephen Sondheim, born this day in 1930, was tutored by Oscar Hammerstein II, who lived next door. Sondheim wrote the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) at twenty-seven. His later works — Company, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George — transformed musical theater from narrative entertainment into art. He won eight Tony Awards, an Oscar, a Pulitzer Prize, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. William Shatner, born the next day in 1931, has been Captain Kirk for sixty years. He went to space in 2021 at ninety, aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard. People born on March 22 fall under the zodiac sign of Aries. The birthstone is Aquamarine and the birth flower is Daffodil. Historical events on March 22 include 1765: British Parliament passes Stamp Act, taxing American colonies, 1894: First Stanley Cup playoff game held in Montreal, 1972: Congress passes Equal Rights Amendment, sent to states for ratification. Famous people born on March 22 include Stephen Sondheim (1930), William Shatner (1931), Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948).