September 20, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode, we’re giving you a quick but rich dive into two very different moments in American history. First, we’ll revisit Paul Revere’s legendary midnight ride—what really happened, the myths versus the facts, and why his ride became such a powerful symbol of resistance. Then, we fast-forward to the 20th century and explore Prohibition: the reasons it was enacted, how speakeasies thrived, and why the ban on alcohol ultimately failed.
There are surprising connections between both eras: rebellion, resistance, and the American spirit of defiance.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
music music
SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
Hey, hey, Twisted listeners.
SPEAKER_01 (00:17):
Twisted historians.
SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
Oh, I like that even better.
Twisted historians.
That just rolls right off thetongue.
Twistorians.
Oh, Twistorians.
All right.
Welcome, Twistorians.
We are here today to start kindof a new series every once in a
while.
We have conspiracy theories, wehave true crime, and now we're
(00:43):
going to have like the truth,the real truth behind some
historical events, things thatwe were taught in school, but
maybe with a different twist.
So I guess I'm going to start,Kim, by asking you what you
remember about Paul Revere.
Yeah.
The British are coming likeeverybody else.
(01:32):
So after the costly, veryexpensive French and Indian War,
Britain is broke and King GeorgeIII wants his American colonies
to help with the bill.
So Parliament starts imposingtaxes.
So I'm sure you all remembersome of these different taxes.
(01:55):
The Stamp Act, 1765.
You want to print anything, andI mean anything, even America,
you want to print anything.
Kind of like our tariffs.
(02:32):
Because they don't have anyrepresentation in Parliament.
They're being ruled from acrossthe ocean, but by men who do not
know them, don't represent them.
And it's becoming increasinglyaware that they don't really
respect the colonists.
SPEAKER_01 (02:46):
Hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (02:47):
Sounds so familiar.
Sorry.
There's going to be a lot oflittle parallels in here.
So Boston is like the epicenterof the resistance.
This is where the Sons ofLiberty is formed.
It's a secret system.
and was formed to oppose theBritish politics, and it's
stirring rebellion.
(03:08):
They're not just writing angryletters with their feather pens.
They're organizing protests.
They're publishing propaganda,and they are actually tarring
and feathering tax collectors,and I am not endorsing that
action.
SPEAKER_01 (03:23):
Oh, my God.
That's always been...
The
SPEAKER_00 (03:27):
worst, right?
SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
Yeah, because...
SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
And I don't remember ever really understanding what
tarring and feathering meant inelementary school.
I didn't realize howincredibly...
painful and horrific that is.
Do
SPEAKER_01 (03:43):
we, did you have a description of it?
Um, not
SPEAKER_00 (03:49):
quite handy.
Hold on.
Let's go.
Let's, let's get some of the.
Yeah.
Tarring and feathering.
It's a form of public punishmentand humiliation where a person
is stripped naked or to the Westor not to the West or to the
waist.
Tarring and feathering is a formof public punishment Mm-hmm.
(04:12):
Mm-hmm.
(04:32):
It was a brutal and painful formof vigilante justice, and it was
primarily used in colonialAmerica to publicly shame
individuals.
It's hot pine tar.
It wasn't...
It doesn't come off, does it?
(04:53):
I mean, it's not...
So here's what my article says.
It's not always deadly, whichmeans it is sometimes deadly.
So while not intended to belethal, the process could cause
severe burns, obviously,blisters and skin damage, and
then you obviously have to worryabout infection.
(05:14):
So it was a common form ofpunishment during the American
Revolution, particularly...
particularly against Britishofficials and those perceived as
loyalists.
It also saw other uses inhistorical periods and contexts,
including even after the CivilWar and even during World War I.
(05:36):
I asked
SPEAKER_01 (05:37):
if they can take it off, and it says it can be quite
difficult and painful to remove.
The process involves applyinghot or cold tar to a person's
body, followed by covering themin feathers.
Attempts to remove the tar cancause further injury including
skin burns, blistering, and eventhe peeling of skin.
SPEAKER_00 (05:54):
Oh, it's awful, awful.
So please no, not condoning,tarring, and feathering.
Yeah, I don't, yeah, okay.
No, I don't think anybody is.
So one of their most visiblestunts that they did, the Sons
of Liberty, is the Boston TeaParty, which we all have heard
about, that happened in Decemberof 1773.
They disguised themselves asMohawk Indians.
(06:16):
They boarded British ships anddumped 342 chests of tea into
the harbor.
It's about a million dollarsworth of tea in today's money.
In today's standards.
Okay.
Yeah.
And of course, the Britishgovernment is going to respond
and they're going to respondwith fury.
So in 1774, they, Britain,enacts a series of punitive laws
(06:41):
designed in their mind to bringthe rebellious colonies,
especially Massachusetts, toheel.
Like we're going to make thembehave.
So they close the harbor untilthe dumped tea is paid for.
They replace local governmentwith royal control.
They allow British officialsaccused of crimes to be tried in
(07:06):
Britain instead of in thecolonies.
And then the Quartering Act.
And here's where things getpersonal.
Colonists are now required tohouse British soldiers in their
own homes without consent.
So based Basically, you wake upone morning, someone knocks on
their door, and they're here tomove into your house.
What amendment was that?
Eat your food.
SPEAKER_01 (07:26):
It was an amendment.
I remember teaching that.
Quarterly soldiers.
That happened a lot in the CivilWar as well.
SPEAKER_00 (07:34):
Yes.
I mean, can you just imaginelike you wake up and like, hey,
I'm here to stay.
I'm going to eat all of yourfood and I'm going to spy on
your family while I'm here.
And so this isn't really justonly about taxes.
It's about control.
So the colonies are doingeverything they can.
They're sending petitions.
(07:55):
They're protesting peacefully.
They formed the firstContinental Congress in
September of 1774.
It's a meeting of colonialdelegates that are trying to
organize a unified experience.
Not a unified experience, aunified response.
But it's clear by early 1775,this isn't working.
(08:16):
British isn't the British arenot going to back down, and
neither are the colonists.
So by April, British GeneralThomas Gage, he's stationed in
Boston.
He's given secret orders.
He's told, march to Concord withyour troops.
Seize the weapons that thecolonists have bought.
(08:37):
been stockpiling.
And while you're at it, go aheadand arrest those two
troublemakers that have beenhiding in nearby Lexington, John
Hancock and Samuel Adams.
But here's what Gage doesn'tknow.
His every move, this Britishgeneral, his every move is being
watched.
So the Sons of Liberty have eyesand ears everywhere.
(08:59):
They're spying.
Some say that in Gage's ownhousehold, there were spies.
And historians now believe thatit was Dr.
Joseph Warren, who was a Bostonphysician and revolutionary
leader.
He was receiving intelligencedirectly from someone close to
Gage's wife, basically somebodygossiping.
And one of Warren's most trustedmessengers is Paul Revere.
(09:26):
He was a silversmith, anartisan, and a political just
firebrand.
But he wasn't a lone actor.
Everybody seems to think that itwas Right.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (10:07):
wonder if he was just louder i did the third
amendment was to prevent thequartering of soldiers i just
wanted to go ahead and
SPEAKER_00 (10:13):
yeah thank you for tying that bow
SPEAKER_01 (10:14):
on that um um so why do we know why we just talk
about him so
SPEAKER_00 (10:21):
there was a poem that was written by by
longfellow henry wadsworthlongfellow and he narrates this
midnight journey to warn thecolonists about the british
advance and it's called paulrevere's ride and it's a it's a
popular ballad And it's meant tomimic the galloping of a horse.
And it begins with the famousline, listen, my children, and
(10:43):
you shall hear of the midnightride of Paul Revere.
So it's going to recountRevere's urgent journey, but
he's taken artistic license inthe retelling of the story.
As always happens with history.
Yes.
And so, you know, we've heardthat and that poem was taught
(11:05):
and people have the wrongmisconception So Dr.
Warren, he gets word the Britishare moving that night, and his
mission is to warn Hancock andAdams in Lexington and then in
Concord.
So Revere and his fellow writer,William Dawes, are dispatched
separately to ensure that atleast one is able to make it
(11:27):
through.
Revere goes by boat across theCharles River to Charleston, and
Dawes goes the long land route.
But before Revere even gets onhis borrowed horse, who was
named Brown Beauty, he makes aplan.
If I don't make it, they'llstill need to know about what
(11:49):
route that the British are goingto take.
So he instructs his friend tohang two lanterns in the steeple
of the Old North Church.
One if by land, two if by sea.
That's a big part of that poem.
And that now famous signal isfor backup riders.
It's not for the town people.
And it worked.
(12:10):
So despite the stories, Reveredid not ride through town
yelling at the top of his lungs,the British are coming, the
British are coming.
Because for starters, all of thecolonists, guess what they are,
technically?
British.
So at the time, they would nothave understood that as a
threat.
And more importantly, themission required stealth.
(12:33):
They couldn't risk Britishpatrols hearing them.
So he wasn't riding through, theBritish are coming, the British
are coming.
He's riding through the night.
He's stopping at every house hecan, like knocking on the door
and quietly whispering.
He alerts the militia known asthe Minutemen, farmers and
tradesmen who could be ready tofight in that minute, 60
(12:55):
seconds.
And meanwhile, Dawes is doingexactly the same on a separate
route, but neither of them makesit alone.
So outside Lexington, when theyhave congenial joined and met
up, the two men meet a thirdman, Dr.
Samuel Prescott, who is a youngpatriot who joins them on the
journey to Concord.
(13:17):
But on a dark country road inLincoln, they're ambushed by a
British patrol.
Dawes escapes, but his horsebolts, and he's forced to walk
back.
Revere is actually captured,interrogated at gunpoint, and
loses his horse.
And only Dr.
Prescott makes the leap,literally.
(13:37):
He jumps his horse over a stonewall and vanishes into the woods
and he is the only one of thethree to actually finish the
ride and reach Concord.
Wow.
So by morning, thanks to thewarning, Lexington and Concord
are actually ready.
When the British arrive, thefirst shots of the American
Revolution are fired on thegreen in Lexington and we still
(13:59):
don't know who fired first.
Eight colonists die, but thereal surprise is what happened
next.
As the But why?
Again, we already touched onthis a little bit.
(14:25):
Why do we remember Paul Revereand almost no one else?
UNKNOWN (14:29):
Why?
SPEAKER_00 (14:29):
In 1861, over 85 years after that ride happened,
a poet named Henry WadsworthLongfellow wrote,"'Listen, my
children, and you shall hear ofthe Midnight Ride of Paul
Revere.
It's catchy, it's rhythmic, it'sdramatic, and it is deeply
inaccurate.
Revere was never alone.
(14:50):
He did not finish the ride, hedidn't shout the phrase, and he
wasn't even the bravest of thethree people.'" But Longfellow's
goal was not actually abouthistorical precision.
It was written to inspirepatriotism.
He wrote it on the eve of theCivil War to remind Americans of
a time when people foughttogether for a shared cause.
(15:14):
Revere became a legend becausehe fit that narrative.
One man, one horse, a ride thatchanged everything.
Yeah.
So history isn't always aboutwhat's happened.
It's about what we choose toremember.
Yeah, William Dawes, he diedlargely unrecognized.
His name is missing from most,if not all, textbooks.
Samuel Prescott, the one whoactually was able to warn
(15:36):
Concord, was captured by theBritish later and died in a
prison ship, mostly forgotten.
There was a girl, SybilLudington, just 16.
She rode 40 miles to warn troopsin New York.
She got no poem, no statue, nolanterns.
Thank you.
And even Brown Beauty, the horsethat Revere borrowed, was never,
(15:56):
ever returned.
So, you know, the real story ofthe Midnight Ride is a lot more
messy.
It's much more inspiring thanwhat we learned in elementary
school.
It's not just about one person.
It was about a network ofpatriots who worked together in
the shadows, risking their livesfor a chance at liberty.
And maybe that's the lesson weneed the most, that revolutions
(16:20):
are not won by heroes onhorseback.
They're won by people, ordinaryand extraordinary, who act when
it matters.
So funny fact, I thought abouthow different this would be
today.
Right.
In what context?
Well, like just silly thingslike the old North Church's
(16:45):
lanterns.
They're probably like smartbulbs now and maybe they would
have been different colors thatwere flashed, you know.
Yeah.
You know, maybe Revere triedcalling an Uber since he had to
borrow a horse.
Maybe he would have started withan Uber.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:04):
It really wasn't an Uber driver.
It was a kidnapper.
UNKNOWN (17:07):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:08):
I mean, and then think also, they would have just
been able to tweet or usethreads or Instagram or TikTok
or Snapchat to spread theirmessage.
Nobody would have to ridethrough on horses.
I
SPEAKER_01 (17:22):
wonder if they did any research on that woman.
What was her name?
Sybil
SPEAKER_00 (17:27):
Ludington.
SPEAKER_01 (17:27):
Interesting.
There's always a woman in themidst of all these war stories,
or at least one that we hearabout.
But there were many women whowere disguised as men and fought
Yeah.
Oh, that's cool.
(17:54):
because I was interested inthis.
I guess we had just talked aboutthe no phone policy.
And then I was looking and I'mlike, I've always been
fascinated by prohibition andspeakeasies.
And so I thought that would bekind of fun to talk about.
And one of the reasons isbecause one of my favorite
movies is Some Like It Hot withMarilyn Monroe.
(18:14):
And it was based on some of thethings that really happened.
The idea of banning alcohol atthis point wasn't new in the
1800s.
There were temperance movements,but why would they want alcohol
to be banned?
So in 1826, the AmericanTemperance Society is founded.
Largely, there's a lot of womenin this.
(18:35):
1851, Maine passes the firststate-level prohibition law.
And then 1919, the 18thAmendment is ratified.
In 1920, prohibition begins, andthe Volstead Act enforces it.
So why was there a push to banbooze?
And it wasn't just aboutdrinking.
And if we think about this, it'sstill true that many believe
(18:59):
that alcohol was destroyingfamilies, increasing crime, and
undermining moral values.
Religious groups, women'smovements like WCTU and rural
America all saw alcohol as acorrupting urban force.
Also, one of the things, too...
The rate of infidelity wasincreasing and abuse.
(19:20):
So men were going out to thesaloons and then coming back and
abusing their wives.
I guess that was on the risebecause they weren't used to...
I guess they were overindulging.
SPEAKER_00 (19:29):
I guess that...
I mean...
Some people get mellow when theydrink.
Some people get mean when theydrink.
It's really, you know, whenpeople can go and drink to
excess, things like that aregoing to happen.
SPEAKER_01 (19:45):
Right.
When we were in London, we wenton the Jack the Ripper tour and
they, she talked a lot and itwasn't about prohibition, but
she was just talking about howmany people were full on
alcoholics during that time.
All right.
So as soon as they banned it,Drinking never stopped.
Okay.
America got creative.
And then speakeasy is where theystarted, like in the back rooms
(20:10):
of places.
And, you know, you'd have to godownstairs.
And speakeasy was meaning theycouldn't say it out loud.
They had to say the secret wordin a very whispered voice.
So they spoke easily.
Oh.
So
SPEAKER_00 (20:25):
they were hidden.
It could have been speakwhisperly.
Yes.
That wouldn't have had the samering.
Speak whisperly.
SPEAKER_01 (20:31):
No, it definitely would not have.
And It's a lot of syllables.
So this is how they operated.
They had passwords andpeepholes.
They had to whisper passwords,hence the term speakeasy, like I
just said.
Hidden entrances, behind sodashops, laundromats, even church
fronts, disguised glassware.
So this is kind of where thecocktail came about because a
(20:53):
lot of people at this point werejust drinking straight alcohol.
So they felt like they weredisguising the alcohol in things
like teacups, coffee mugs,cocktail glasses help conceal
the contents because that's whatthat was not normal so cocktail
really was born within thespeakeasy so a couple of famous
(21:13):
ones 21 club the green mill andchumleys and every once in a
while like we've there'sspeakeasies around town just as
like a you know a fun thing togo to so there's a certain
culture that went along withspeakeasies so the charleston
dance you would see people doingthis dance in the speakeasies
because it was was definitely asymbol of a form of rebellion.
(21:37):
So in addition to drinking, theywould do the Charleston.
This is where cocktailinnovation happened.
So bartenders started usingmixers.
So bartenders started mixingstrong liquor with juice, honey,
and bitters to hide the tasteand strength of the bootleg
alcohol.
SPEAKER_00 (21:56):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (21:57):
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (21:58):
not to try to hide it so that if somebody saw me
drinking it, they didn't know Iwas drinking alcohol, but
because Because the alcohol thatwas being made was not as high
quality.
SPEAKER_01 (22:07):
Because the connotation of the alcohol would
be probably in a little cup.
But if they have a really fancyglass with a yellow drink,
cocktails were not a thing.
Right.
So it looked different.
And then women startedfrequenting the speakeasies.
With legal alcohol gone, theunderworld stepped in.
(22:27):
So this is where you have AlCapone.
He was the king of the bootlegalcohol He made over$100 million
a year at his peak bybootlegging, right?
George Remus...
a former lawyer, and he wascalled king of the bootleggers.
(22:48):
Cary Nation, axe-wieldingtemperance warrior, famous for
smashing saloonspre-prohibition.
So here's some other facts.
Okay, so this blew my mind whenI was doing the research.
So the government startedpoisoning industrial alcohol to
deter bootlegging, killing over10,000 people.
SPEAKER_00 (23:09):
Dang, I never knew that.
That's not a part that's...
SPEAKER_01 (23:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:14):
Really ever talked about.
SPEAKER_01 (23:16):
Great producers began selling wine bricks with a
warning, do not add yeast oryou'll accidentally make wine.
Doctors prescribed whiskey forailments as a prescription.
Oh.
So they were getting away withit.
So...
this did not work the way theythought it was going to work.
(23:38):
So it affected local businessessuch as breweries, distilleries,
and bars.
Many jobs were lost.
Distributors, delivery driversbecame smugglers.
Milk trucks carried gin.
Grape growers, the wine industrywas nearly destroyed.
Some of them survived.
(23:58):
Prohibition was meant to reducecrime, but organized crime
skyrocketed.
And then it goes back to In SomeLike It Hot, which is Tony
Curtis and Jack Lemmon andMarilyn Monroe.
They play jazz musicians whowitnessed the mob hit.
And it was an obvious nod to theSt.
Valentine's Day massacre duringthe Prohibition era.
(24:22):
They flee disguised as womenjoining an all-female band and
chaos ensues.
So basically, that's where I waslike, that's interesting.
Because the Valentine's Daymassacres where they lined all
the people up and shot them.
And I don't know the particularsabout that.
In 1933, the 21st Amendmentrepeals prohibition.
(24:43):
The
SPEAKER_00 (24:44):
1929 gangland execution in Chicago, where
seven members of the North SideGang were murdered by assailants
disguised as police officers.
This event was orchestrated byAl Capone's South Side Gang, and
it was a brutal display of powerduring prohibition aimed at
(25:04):
eliminating Yeah, I think it'sinteresting
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
because...
We still have the same issueswith alcohol.
And it just shows that once youtake something away, people are
going to find a way to get it.
But there was a culture in thespeakeasies.
There was the definite like...
The way they conductedthemselves, like I said, the
dancing, the music, the opennessof women in that time, the
(25:45):
flappers, like that was a bigdeal.
They were able to be in publicmore.
And it's just sad that, youknow, one of the reasons was the
abuse and the infidelity.
But that's my snippet, myhistory snippet.
SPEAKER_00 (26:04):
It kind of goes, it takes, you know, it's back to
that pendulum of everythingmoving from one extreme to the
other, like this happened, socause and effect turns into so
many other pieces of that.
SPEAKER_01 (26:20):
Well, I think the biggest takeaway is the
government poisoning theindustrial alcohol.
Yeah.
I mean...
Wow.
Yeah.
I mean, that just blows me away.
All right.
Well, that's our Twisted Snippeton history.
SPEAKER_00 (26:39):
Our Twistorians.
All right, everyone.
Well, stay twisty.
Bye.
Bye.
music music
SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
Hey, hey, Twisted listeners.
SPEAKER_01 (00:17):
Twisted historians.
SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
Oh, I like that even better.
Twisted historians.
That just rolls right off thetongue.
Twistorians.
Oh, Twistorians.
All right.
Welcome, Twistorians.
We are here today to start kindof a new series every once in a
while.
We have conspiracy theories, wehave true crime, and now we're
(00:43):
going to have like the truth,the real truth behind some
historical events, things thatwe were taught in school, but
maybe with a different twist.
So I guess I'm going to start,Kim, by asking you what you
remember about Paul Revere.
Yeah.
The British are coming likeeverybody else.
(01:32):
So after the costly, veryexpensive French and Indian War,
Britain is broke and King GeorgeIII wants his American colonies
to help with the bill.
So Parliament starts imposingtaxes.
So I'm sure you all remembersome of these different taxes.
(01:55):
The Stamp Act, 1765.
You want to print anything, andI mean anything, even America,
you want to print anything.
Kind of like our tariffs.
(02:32):
Because they don't have anyrepresentation in Parliament.
They're being ruled from acrossthe ocean, but by men who do not
know them, don't represent them.
And it's becoming increasinglyaware that they don't really
respect the colonists.
SPEAKER_01 (02:46):
Hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (02:47):
Sounds so familiar.
Sorry.
There's going to be a lot oflittle parallels in here.
So Boston is like the epicenterof the resistance.
This is where the Sons ofLiberty is formed.
It's a secret system.
and was formed to oppose theBritish politics, and it's
stirring rebellion.
(03:08):
They're not just writing angryletters with their feather pens.
They're organizing protests.
They're publishing propaganda,and they are actually tarring
and feathering tax collectors,and I am not endorsing that
action.
SPEAKER_01 (03:23):
Oh, my God.
That's always been...
The
SPEAKER_00 (03:27):
worst, right?
SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
Yeah, because...
SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
And I don't remember ever really understanding what
tarring and feathering meant inelementary school.
I didn't realize howincredibly...
painful and horrific that is.
Do
SPEAKER_01 (03:43):
we, did you have a description of it?
Um, not
SPEAKER_00 (03:49):
quite handy.
Hold on.
Let's go.
Let's, let's get some of the.
Yeah.
Tarring and feathering.
It's a form of public punishmentand humiliation where a person
is stripped naked or to the Westor not to the West or to the
waist.
Tarring and feathering is a formof public punishment Mm-hmm.
(04:12):
Mm-hmm.
(04:32):
It was a brutal and painful formof vigilante justice, and it was
primarily used in colonialAmerica to publicly shame
individuals.
It's hot pine tar.
It wasn't...
It doesn't come off, does it?
(04:53):
I mean, it's not...
So here's what my article says.
It's not always deadly, whichmeans it is sometimes deadly.
So while not intended to belethal, the process could cause
severe burns, obviously,blisters and skin damage, and
then you obviously have to worryabout infection.
(05:14):
So it was a common form ofpunishment during the American
Revolution, particularly...
particularly against Britishofficials and those perceived as
loyalists.
It also saw other uses inhistorical periods and contexts,
including even after the CivilWar and even during World War I.
(05:36):
I asked
SPEAKER_01 (05:37):
if they can take it off, and it says it can be quite
difficult and painful to remove.
The process involves applyinghot or cold tar to a person's
body, followed by covering themin feathers.
Attempts to remove the tar cancause further injury including
skin burns, blistering, and eventhe peeling of skin.
SPEAKER_00 (05:54):
Oh, it's awful, awful.
So please no, not condoning,tarring, and feathering.
Yeah, I don't, yeah, okay.
No, I don't think anybody is.
So one of their most visiblestunts that they did, the Sons
of Liberty, is the Boston TeaParty, which we all have heard
about, that happened in Decemberof 1773.
They disguised themselves asMohawk Indians.
(06:16):
They boarded British ships anddumped 342 chests of tea into
the harbor.
It's about a million dollarsworth of tea in today's money.
In today's standards.
Okay.
Yeah.
And of course, the Britishgovernment is going to respond
and they're going to respondwith fury.
So in 1774, they, Britain,enacts a series of punitive laws
(06:41):
designed in their mind to bringthe rebellious colonies,
especially Massachusetts, toheel.
Like we're going to make thembehave.
So they close the harbor untilthe dumped tea is paid for.
They replace local governmentwith royal control.
They allow British officialsaccused of crimes to be tried in
(07:06):
Britain instead of in thecolonies.
And then the Quartering Act.
And here's where things getpersonal.
Colonists are now required tohouse British soldiers in their
own homes without consent.
So based Basically, you wake upone morning, someone knocks on
their door, and they're here tomove into your house.
What amendment was that?
Eat your food.
SPEAKER_01 (07:26):
It was an amendment.
I remember teaching that.
Quarterly soldiers.
That happened a lot in the CivilWar as well.
SPEAKER_00 (07:34):
Yes.
I mean, can you just imaginelike you wake up and like, hey,
I'm here to stay.
I'm going to eat all of yourfood and I'm going to spy on
your family while I'm here.
And so this isn't really justonly about taxes.
It's about control.
So the colonies are doingeverything they can.
They're sending petitions.
(07:55):
They're protesting peacefully.
They formed the firstContinental Congress in
September of 1774.
It's a meeting of colonialdelegates that are trying to
organize a unified experience.
Not a unified experience, aunified response.
But it's clear by early 1775,this isn't working.
(08:16):
British isn't the British arenot going to back down, and
neither are the colonists.
So by April, British GeneralThomas Gage, he's stationed in
Boston.
He's given secret orders.
He's told, march to Concord withyour troops.
Seize the weapons that thecolonists have bought.
(08:37):
been stockpiling.
And while you're at it, go aheadand arrest those two
troublemakers that have beenhiding in nearby Lexington, John
Hancock and Samuel Adams.
But here's what Gage doesn'tknow.
His every move, this Britishgeneral, his every move is being
watched.
So the Sons of Liberty have eyesand ears everywhere.
(08:59):
They're spying.
Some say that in Gage's ownhousehold, there were spies.
And historians now believe thatit was Dr.
Joseph Warren, who was a Bostonphysician and revolutionary
leader.
He was receiving intelligencedirectly from someone close to
Gage's wife, basically somebodygossiping.
And one of Warren's most trustedmessengers is Paul Revere.
(09:26):
He was a silversmith, anartisan, and a political just
firebrand.
But he wasn't a lone actor.
Everybody seems to think that itwas Right.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (10:07):
wonder if he was just louder i did the third
amendment was to prevent thequartering of soldiers i just
wanted to go ahead and
SPEAKER_00 (10:13):
yeah thank you for tying that bow
SPEAKER_01 (10:14):
on that um um so why do we know why we just talk
about him so
SPEAKER_00 (10:21):
there was a poem that was written by by
longfellow henry wadsworthlongfellow and he narrates this
midnight journey to warn thecolonists about the british
advance and it's called paulrevere's ride and it's a it's a
popular ballad And it's meant tomimic the galloping of a horse.
And it begins with the famousline, listen, my children, and
(10:43):
you shall hear of the midnightride of Paul Revere.
So it's going to recountRevere's urgent journey, but
he's taken artistic license inthe retelling of the story.
As always happens with history.
Yes.
And so, you know, we've heardthat and that poem was taught
(11:05):
and people have the wrongmisconception So Dr.
Warren, he gets word the Britishare moving that night, and his
mission is to warn Hancock andAdams in Lexington and then in
Concord.
So Revere and his fellow writer,William Dawes, are dispatched
separately to ensure that atleast one is able to make it
(11:27):
through.
Revere goes by boat across theCharles River to Charleston, and
Dawes goes the long land route.
But before Revere even gets onhis borrowed horse, who was
named Brown Beauty, he makes aplan.
If I don't make it, they'llstill need to know about what
(11:49):
route that the British are goingto take.
So he instructs his friend tohang two lanterns in the steeple
of the Old North Church.
One if by land, two if by sea.
That's a big part of that poem.
And that now famous signal isfor backup riders.
It's not for the town people.
And it worked.
(12:10):
So despite the stories, Reveredid not ride through town
yelling at the top of his lungs,the British are coming, the
British are coming.
Because for starters, all of thecolonists, guess what they are,
technically?
British.
So at the time, they would nothave understood that as a
threat.
And more importantly, themission required stealth.
(12:33):
They couldn't risk Britishpatrols hearing them.
So he wasn't riding through, theBritish are coming, the British
are coming.
He's riding through the night.
He's stopping at every house hecan, like knocking on the door
and quietly whispering.
He alerts the militia known asthe Minutemen, farmers and
tradesmen who could be ready tofight in that minute, 60
(12:55):
seconds.
And meanwhile, Dawes is doingexactly the same on a separate
route, but neither of them makesit alone.
So outside Lexington, when theyhave congenial joined and met
up, the two men meet a thirdman, Dr.
Samuel Prescott, who is a youngpatriot who joins them on the
journey to Concord.
(13:17):
But on a dark country road inLincoln, they're ambushed by a
British patrol.
Dawes escapes, but his horsebolts, and he's forced to walk
back.
Revere is actually captured,interrogated at gunpoint, and
loses his horse.
And only Dr.
Prescott makes the leap,literally.
(13:37):
He jumps his horse over a stonewall and vanishes into the woods
and he is the only one of thethree to actually finish the
ride and reach Concord.
Wow.
So by morning, thanks to thewarning, Lexington and Concord
are actually ready.
When the British arrive, thefirst shots of the American
Revolution are fired on thegreen in Lexington and we still
(13:59):
don't know who fired first.
Eight colonists die, but thereal surprise is what happened
next.
As the But why?
Again, we already touched onthis a little bit.
(14:25):
Why do we remember Paul Revereand almost no one else?
UNKNOWN (14:29):
Why?
SPEAKER_00 (14:29):
In 1861, over 85 years after that ride happened,
a poet named Henry WadsworthLongfellow wrote,"'Listen, my
children, and you shall hear ofthe Midnight Ride of Paul
Revere.
It's catchy, it's rhythmic, it'sdramatic, and it is deeply
inaccurate.
Revere was never alone.
(14:50):
He did not finish the ride, hedidn't shout the phrase, and he
wasn't even the bravest of thethree people.'" But Longfellow's
goal was not actually abouthistorical precision.
It was written to inspirepatriotism.
He wrote it on the eve of theCivil War to remind Americans of
a time when people foughttogether for a shared cause.
(15:14):
Revere became a legend becausehe fit that narrative.
One man, one horse, a ride thatchanged everything.
Yeah.
So history isn't always aboutwhat's happened.
It's about what we choose toremember.
Yeah, William Dawes, he diedlargely unrecognized.
His name is missing from most,if not all, textbooks.
Samuel Prescott, the one whoactually was able to warn
(15:36):
Concord, was captured by theBritish later and died in a
prison ship, mostly forgotten.
There was a girl, SybilLudington, just 16.
She rode 40 miles to warn troopsin New York.
She got no poem, no statue, nolanterns.
Thank you.
And even Brown Beauty, the horsethat Revere borrowed, was never,
(15:56):
ever returned.
So, you know, the real story ofthe Midnight Ride is a lot more
messy.
It's much more inspiring thanwhat we learned in elementary
school.
It's not just about one person.
It was about a network ofpatriots who worked together in
the shadows, risking their livesfor a chance at liberty.
And maybe that's the lesson weneed the most, that revolutions
(16:20):
are not won by heroes onhorseback.
They're won by people, ordinaryand extraordinary, who act when
it matters.
So funny fact, I thought abouthow different this would be
today.
Right.
In what context?
Well, like just silly thingslike the old North Church's
(16:45):
lanterns.
They're probably like smartbulbs now and maybe they would
have been different colors thatwere flashed, you know.
Yeah.
You know, maybe Revere triedcalling an Uber since he had to
borrow a horse.
Maybe he would have started withan Uber.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:04):
It really wasn't an Uber driver.
It was a kidnapper.
UNKNOWN (17:07):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:08):
I mean, and then think also, they would have just
been able to tweet or usethreads or Instagram or TikTok
or Snapchat to spread theirmessage.
Nobody would have to ridethrough on horses.
I
SPEAKER_01 (17:22):
wonder if they did any research on that woman.
What was her name?
Sybil
SPEAKER_00 (17:27):
Ludington.
SPEAKER_01 (17:27):
Interesting.
There's always a woman in themidst of all these war stories,
or at least one that we hearabout.
But there were many women whowere disguised as men and fought
Yeah.
Oh, that's cool.
(17:54):
because I was interested inthis.
I guess we had just talked aboutthe no phone policy.
And then I was looking and I'mlike, I've always been
fascinated by prohibition andspeakeasies.
And so I thought that would bekind of fun to talk about.
And one of the reasons isbecause one of my favorite
movies is Some Like It Hot withMarilyn Monroe.
(18:14):
And it was based on some of thethings that really happened.
The idea of banning alcohol atthis point wasn't new in the
1800s.
There were temperance movements,but why would they want alcohol
to be banned?
So in 1826, the AmericanTemperance Society is founded.
Largely, there's a lot of womenin this.
(18:35):
1851, Maine passes the firststate-level prohibition law.
And then 1919, the 18thAmendment is ratified.
In 1920, prohibition begins, andthe Volstead Act enforces it.
So why was there a push to banbooze?
And it wasn't just aboutdrinking.
And if we think about this, it'sstill true that many believe
(18:59):
that alcohol was destroyingfamilies, increasing crime, and
undermining moral values.
Religious groups, women'smovements like WCTU and rural
America all saw alcohol as acorrupting urban force.
Also, one of the things, too...
The rate of infidelity wasincreasing and abuse.
(19:20):
So men were going out to thesaloons and then coming back and
abusing their wives.
I guess that was on the risebecause they weren't used to...
I guess they were overindulging.
SPEAKER_00 (19:29):
I guess that...
I mean...
Some people get mellow when theydrink.
Some people get mean when theydrink.
It's really, you know, whenpeople can go and drink to
excess, things like that aregoing to happen.
SPEAKER_01 (19:45):
Right.
When we were in London, we wenton the Jack the Ripper tour and
they, she talked a lot and itwasn't about prohibition, but
she was just talking about howmany people were full on
alcoholics during that time.
All right.
So as soon as they banned it,Drinking never stopped.
Okay.
America got creative.
And then speakeasy is where theystarted, like in the back rooms
(20:10):
of places.
And, you know, you'd have to godownstairs.
And speakeasy was meaning theycouldn't say it out loud.
They had to say the secret wordin a very whispered voice.
So they spoke easily.
Oh.
So
SPEAKER_00 (20:25):
they were hidden.
It could have been speakwhisperly.
Yes.
That wouldn't have had the samering.
Speak whisperly.
SPEAKER_01 (20:31):
No, it definitely would not have.
And It's a lot of syllables.
So this is how they operated.
They had passwords andpeepholes.
They had to whisper passwords,hence the term speakeasy, like I
just said.
Hidden entrances, behind sodashops, laundromats, even church
fronts, disguised glassware.
So this is kind of where thecocktail came about because a
(20:53):
lot of people at this point werejust drinking straight alcohol.
So they felt like they weredisguising the alcohol in things
like teacups, coffee mugs,cocktail glasses help conceal
the contents because that's whatthat was not normal so cocktail
really was born within thespeakeasy so a couple of famous
(21:13):
ones 21 club the green mill andchumleys and every once in a
while like we've there'sspeakeasies around town just as
like a you know a fun thing togo to so there's a certain
culture that went along withspeakeasies so the charleston
dance you would see people doingthis dance in the speakeasies
because it was was definitely asymbol of a form of rebellion.
(21:37):
So in addition to drinking, theywould do the Charleston.
This is where cocktailinnovation happened.
So bartenders started usingmixers.
So bartenders started mixingstrong liquor with juice, honey,
and bitters to hide the tasteand strength of the bootleg
alcohol.
SPEAKER_00 (21:56):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (21:57):
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (21:58):
not to try to hide it so that if somebody saw me
drinking it, they didn't know Iwas drinking alcohol, but
because Because the alcohol thatwas being made was not as high
quality.
SPEAKER_01 (22:07):
Because the connotation of the alcohol would
be probably in a little cup.
But if they have a really fancyglass with a yellow drink,
cocktails were not a thing.
Right.
So it looked different.
And then women startedfrequenting the speakeasies.
With legal alcohol gone, theunderworld stepped in.
(22:27):
So this is where you have AlCapone.
He was the king of the bootlegalcohol He made over$100 million
a year at his peak bybootlegging, right?
George Remus...
a former lawyer, and he wascalled king of the bootleggers.
(22:48):
Cary Nation, axe-wieldingtemperance warrior, famous for
smashing saloonspre-prohibition.
So here's some other facts.
Okay, so this blew my mind whenI was doing the research.
So the government startedpoisoning industrial alcohol to
deter bootlegging, killing over10,000 people.
SPEAKER_00 (23:09):
Dang, I never knew that.
That's not a part that's...
SPEAKER_01 (23:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:14):
Really ever talked about.
SPEAKER_01 (23:16):
Great producers began selling wine bricks with a
warning, do not add yeast oryou'll accidentally make wine.
Doctors prescribed whiskey forailments as a prescription.
Oh.
So they were getting away withit.
So...
this did not work the way theythought it was going to work.
(23:38):
So it affected local businessessuch as breweries, distilleries,
and bars.
Many jobs were lost.
Distributors, delivery driversbecame smugglers.
Milk trucks carried gin.
Grape growers, the wine industrywas nearly destroyed.
Some of them survived.
(23:58):
Prohibition was meant to reducecrime, but organized crime
skyrocketed.
And then it goes back to In SomeLike It Hot, which is Tony
Curtis and Jack Lemmon andMarilyn Monroe.
They play jazz musicians whowitnessed the mob hit.
And it was an obvious nod to theSt.
Valentine's Day massacre duringthe Prohibition era.
(24:22):
They flee disguised as womenjoining an all-female band and
chaos ensues.
So basically, that's where I waslike, that's interesting.
Because the Valentine's Daymassacres where they lined all
the people up and shot them.
And I don't know the particularsabout that.
In 1933, the 21st Amendmentrepeals prohibition.
(24:43):
The
SPEAKER_00 (24:44):
1929 gangland execution in Chicago, where
seven members of the North SideGang were murdered by assailants
disguised as police officers.
This event was orchestrated byAl Capone's South Side Gang, and
it was a brutal display of powerduring prohibition aimed at
(25:04):
eliminating Yeah, I think it'sinteresting
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
because...
We still have the same issueswith alcohol.
And it just shows that once youtake something away, people are
going to find a way to get it.
But there was a culture in thespeakeasies.
There was the definite like...
The way they conductedthemselves, like I said, the
dancing, the music, the opennessof women in that time, the
(25:45):
flappers, like that was a bigdeal.
They were able to be in publicmore.
And it's just sad that, youknow, one of the reasons was the
abuse and the infidelity.
But that's my snippet, myhistory snippet.
SPEAKER_00 (26:04):
It kind of goes, it takes, you know, it's back to
that pendulum of everythingmoving from one extreme to the
other, like this happened, socause and effect turns into so
many other pieces of that.
SPEAKER_01 (26:20):
Well, I think the biggest takeaway is the
government poisoning theindustrial alcohol.
Yeah.
I mean...
Wow.
Yeah.
I mean, that just blows me away.
All right.
Well, that's our Twisted Snippeton history.
SPEAKER_00 (26:39):
Our Twistorians.
All right, everyone.
Well, stay twisty.
Bye.
Bye.
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