Alcohol History in the USA
There has been alcohol in the USA since before it legally became the USA.
The Puritans were said to have loaded more beer than water for their trek to the New World. Back in colonial times, the settlers consumed alcohol. Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence in a bar in Philadelphia. Alcohol in itself was not thought of as being bad, but drunkenness was. People could drink as often as they wanted, but they could not appear drunk. The early settlers (and throughout time) used alcohol to trade with the Native Americans for goods or services. Before the settlers came, the Native Americans had not had access to alcohol. Because the Native American body does not tolerate sugars the same way as the white man, alcoholism became an epidemic in the Native American society that is still present to this day.
Regardless of what the government did to stop drinking in America, it continued.
* During the Civil War, alcohol was given to the troops before a battle, to get them ready to fight.
Of course, it was also used medicinally. Since there was no anesthetic available, the patient would often be given alcohol to drink and then alcohol was also used to clean the wound before surgery. It barely seems possible, but the use and misuse of alcohol increased during these times. Doctors, frustrated and sickened by all of the death, would often consume alcohol regularly before surgery.
In the Victorian times, the country had once again settled into a mode where drinking was tolerated (taverns were often built near churches), but being drunk was frowned upon. Women began consuming more alcohol than ever before. In December of 1900, Carry Nation went to Wichita Kansas and began smashing bars. She had broken away from the Women’s Temperance League stating that more drastic measures had to be taken. Carrie Nation’s first husband had died of an alcohol related illness which left her to support herself and her daughter alone until she remarried.
* Until 1920-1933 was the Prohibition.
Abraham Lincoln himself had warned years earlier that it would be a disaster and he was right. Many of today’s Americans are descendents of “Boot-leggers”. Regardless of what the government did to stop drinking in America, it continued. Even children were given the task of sneaking amounts of illegal alcohol past police. Large quantities and small made their way across America much to the disappointment of the government.
2 Responses to “Alcohol History in the USA”
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