22. Americans Loved Their Booze From Before There Even Was an America
Benjamin Franklin compiled a list of contemporary terms for “drunk” in the 1730s, and he was able to cite over 200 examples. It should have come as no surprise, in light of just how much Colonial America loved alcohol. Even the Puritans liked their drink: In 1630, John Winthrop arrived in Massachusetts aboard a ship that was laden with over ten thousand gallons of wine, and that carried over three times as much beer as water. In the eighteenth century, rum was the most popular drink, and by the 1760s, New England alone had almost 160 commercial distilleries.
Out in the countryside, farmers fermented their own hard cider, and most of them kept a barrel by the door for their family and for whoever happened to drop by. By the early nineteenth century, hard liquor was so plentiful and so cheap, that it actually cost less than tea. For many, Americans’ love of alcohol was accepted as part of the country’s social fabric. James Madison drank a pint of whiskey each day, John Adams kicked off his mornings with a tankard of hard cider, and George Washington kept a still in Mount Vernon.
