America's founding generation drank a staggering amount of alcohol by today's standards.
It influenced their politics, built and sustained their relationships, and drove the economy. Booze was not a small part of colonial society, nor covertly consumed in private spaces—it was integral to American life.
Historians have been reluctant to discuss the influence of alcohol on the founding of the United States, but it is necessary if we want to gain a full picture of the movement—it's time to reveal the drunken side of the American Revolution.
In Cocked and Boozy—two of Benjamin Franklin's two hundred terms for drunkenness—public historian Brooke Barbier examines the role that alcohol played in spurring, binding, and winning the American Revolution and how it shaped the nascent United States. Every chapter concludes with an eighteenth-century cocktail recipe made for modern tastes, so readers can participate in their own historic tippling.
The intoxicating story begins in 1763 after the end of the French and Indian War and spans until 1800, with the presidential election of Thomas Jefferson. During these nearly four decades, Americans witnessed unprecedented disorder and prodigious growth, and through it all—powering it, in fact—was alcohol. Put simply, drink helped transform British subjects into Americans.
Excerpt
Without thinking about it too much, conjure up an image of Benjamin Franklin—whatever comes to mind. He may be wearing bifocals—an innovation of his—or, more likely, flying a kite in a thunderstorm. Both nod to his contributions as a scientist and inventor. An equally representative picture, however, would have Franklin holding a tankard of drink, hinting at the prominent role that alcohol played in his life and the revolutionary cause he championed. By the end of this book, that may be the image of Franklin you call up because alcohol was essential to his social and political life.
As a young man, Franklin published a “Drinker’s Dictionary,” identifying over two hundred terms for being drunk. Cock’d and boozy are two of them, and many are similarly playful and evocative. Some of the expressions have passed us by, like crump footed, drunk as a wheel-barrow, and pidgeon ey’d, while several we still use today, including tipsey, intoxicated, and flush’d.
For decades, alcohol was integral to Franklin’s world, as it was to other iconic leaders of the founding generation. George Washington became one of the country’s largest distillers—in size and volume—and John Hancock’s taste for madeira led to one of the most memorable mobs of the American Revolution. The delegates of the First and Second Continental Congress, and those of the Constitutional Convention, built support for a common cause while drinking in taverns.
It was not just the elite white men who form the pantheon of founders today who raised a glass. Americans of all races, ages, and classes were motivated, connected, angered, and inspired by alcohol. The men, women, and children who lived through the upheaval of the American Revolution drank a staggering amount of alcohol by today’s standards. Consumption steadily rose in the eighteenth century until colonists’ annual per capita intake of hard spirits reached 3.7 gallons, which did not include the plentiful beer and cider they imbibed throughout the day. By comparison, recent studies show that, on average, Americans drink two and a half gallons of all alcohol every year.
Many historians have underreported or, worse, altogether ignored colonists’ alcohol consumption. Then, as now, there can be a stigma around drink, and especially drunkenness, but avoiding the realities of revolutionary America leaves us with an incomplete picture of the times. Such neglect implies that imbibing alcohol is all bad, that it has wholly negative consequences. It is true that drinking lowers inhibitions, hinders people from thinking clearly, and can lead to aggressive or violent behavior, like mobs and riots. Those happened during the American Revolution and had devastating consequences for many.
But it is equally true that imbibing has positive effects, including building community and trust. Cordiality and connection lead to the kind of bonding that was crucial for disparate peoples and regions trying to unify, something easier done over a shared punch bowl. Those living in the eighteenth century found drinking together useful because it broke down social or cultural barriers and made discourse easier.
We can hold both ideas about drinking in our minds at the same time. This is made easier if we recognize that the effects of alcohol on humans are themselves contradictory. Consuming alcohol can be stimulating, leading to increased good feelings and energy, but it mostly acts as a depressant by relaxing behavior and decreasing cognitive function. The founding generation grasped the inherent ambiguity of alcohol, and if we are to understand this pivotal period, we should try as well.
For alcohol was not a casual part of colonial life, nor covertly consumed in private spaces—it was fundamental to American culture and society, and it powered the economy. It was served with meals, at funerals and weddings, and at ministers’ ordinations, which usually called for a specially brewed beer. Booze was drunk inside the home, where white women or enslaved persons produced beers or ciders for family consumption. Laborers were rewarded for their work with beer, and business transactions were solidified over a glass. Women imbibed at sewing circles and during the laying-in period after childbirth. Militia training days ended in taverns with plentiful drink. Alcohol helped warm colonists from the inside out during punishing winters, and it was thought to have medicinal properties, including aiding digestion and warding off fever and chills.
During the American Revolution, specifically, alcohol built community while maintaining a hierarchical order, helped men get elected and garner support while in office, and enabled strangers to become colleagues and eventually countrymen. It broke up the monotony of soldiers’ daily experiences and helped them revel in victories, yet such intoxication ensured civilians would feel unsafe throughout the war. It spurred economic growth and was vital to American industry as white settlers pushed west. It benefited diplomatic efforts, and when the colonies became the United States, it worked to establish a governing class. In short, it drove and sustained the founding generation: the women and men who transformed from British subjects into Americans.
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