Drinking Customs 1630-1830: Why Temperance and Prohibition Became Important

Abstinence was not one of the Puritan’s virtues. In April 1630 an English Puritan lawyer John Winthrop sailed on the “Arbella” from England for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His vision was a Puritan “city upon a hill,” preaching a sermon during the crossing entitled A Modell of Christian Charity. He brought with him in the hold of his ship more than 10,000 gallons of wine.

In the late 1600s, rum distilling was a major industry in New England, especially in the colonies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Between 1700-1750 there were 30 rum distilleries in Rhode Island and 63 rum distilleries in Massachusetts. Because of the success of rum, other regional industries profited; including slave trade, shipbuilding, ironworks, logging, and cooperage. During the mid-1700s Boston manufactured and consumed more rum than any other city in America. So, one could say it was an economic boost and brought prosperity. But look what else it brought.

Americans of the period believed it was particularly healthier to drink lukewarm alcohol during hot weather rather than drink cold water. Signs were displayed at public wells warning individuals of the dangers of cold water during the summer. Because digestion seemed to be restricted when drinking a cold beverage, the stomach would seem to need warm liquids on a hot day. And, according to ancient Chinese medicine, drinking warm liquids helped to arouse one’s digestive system. Therefore, lukewarm alcohol had to be much better for one than cold water.

The middle-class beverage of choice was rum, and the wealthy classes also drank rum; the wealthy also imported brandy and wines such as Madeira, Canary, Port and Malaga. The local domestic wines were not of good quality but were available for purchase and consumption. Colonists did their own home brewing and distilling of brandies and spirits; wine was fermented from any fruit or vegetable found growing on the farm or in the woods.

Most farmers kept a barrel of fermented cider by the front door for family and friends to dip into any time of the day or night. A cider press could be found in many households and on every farm. In rural America apples were a major crop used for making this cider because “virtually every homestead in America had an orchard from which literally thousands of gallons of cider were made every year,” according to food historian Michael Pollan.

By the 1760s, whiskey was being distilled in western Pennsylvania by farmers for their own consumption. Not only did farmers have their own cider presses, but legend maintains that every farmer also had his own still. Production of whiskey increased dramatically because farmers realized that a horse could carry only four bushels of grain to market but could carry whiskey made from twenty-four bushels just as easily.

The American Revolutionary War occurred between April 1775 and September 1783. Whiskey was issued as a ration to the Continental Army, if good rum was not available. In September 1789, President George Washington gave the task of solving the nation’s debt to Alexander Hamilton as the first Secretary of the Treasury. Much of that debt was incurred by individual states during the American Revolution. Hamilton suggested an excise tax on whiskey but George Washington was opposed to that suggestion. The President went to both Pennsylvania and Virginia in 1791 to hear the citizen’s views and the local governments had met that idea with positivity. Because of that assurance, Congress passed the bill for the new federal whiskey tax where small producers paid nine cents cash per gallon of whiskey, while large producers were at a rate of six cents per gallon receiving tax breaks for the more they produced.