Nothing to Cheer About

September 4, 1639 - It was on this day that the Massachusetts Bay Colony issued a party-pooping edict to ban celebratory toasts. The law stated:

"The common custom of drinking to one another is a mere useless ceremony, and draweth on the abominable practice of drinking healths."

Believe it or not, this law was still on the books until 1692, when a lot of the Puritan codes were being replaced with more lenient laws.