(Long but educational!)
The Founding Fathers’ shared many common characteristics; all were white males and most were well-educated, politically experienced, and possessed above-average wealth. However, a common bond, often neglected by history books, between typical colonists and these socially elite leaders was their love of good beer.Beer was vital component in every colonial community.
A widely known extreme simplification of the cause of the American Revolution was the colonist’s battle cry of “no taxation without representation.” When Britain levied the now infamous Stamp Act of 1765, to pay down war debts from the French and Indian War, many colonists reacted swiftly because the tax directly affected their purchasing habits. Gregg Smith notes in “Beer in America” that beer prices rose and supplies dried-up. As such, colonist took action. As a revolt against British rule budding patriots boycotted imported British products. Many colonists began to purchase only locally produced goods, including home-brewed ale. When the political rabble-rouser Samuel Adams met with the Sons of Liberty to devise a political response to British oppression it was at the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston with ale in hand. Throughout the colonies local taverns began to ferment political change. The colonial protests succeed and by 1770 all the taxes were receded, expect a tax of tea. Once again Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty met at the Green Dragon Tavern, while drinking from many barrels of beer purchased by John Hancock, the events later known as the Boston Tea Party were hatched.
Benjamin Franklin, the quotable American diplomat, wrote in his “Poor Richard’s Almanac” that “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Franklin was a staunch supporter in the notion that beer was a healthy drink. He lived happily to 84 and as Franklin once wrote, “there are more old drunkards than old doctors.”
Most of the Founding Fathers advocated drinking beer over spirits. It seems highly unlikely Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, or Adams would have supported a national prohibition that included beer. Even though Prohibition only lasted thirteen years (1920 – 1933) the aftereffects are still felt today with Sunday “blue laws,” alcohol content restriction, labeling laws and even “dry” counties. Likewise, the image of beer has yet to recover. Beer was once the drink of Presidents, inventors and revolutionaries.
