Once Upon a Time Americans Drank All Day, Every Day and Loved It

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Lot’s of people like to drink. Some drink at dinner, or before dinner, and sometimes during lunch. It also wasn’t unusual to drink at wakes, just ask the Irish. Rarely, however, do the majority of us drink all day, but that wasn’t always the case especially during America’s early times.

The Puritans, not exactly known as a bunch of wild and crazy guys, were among those who first colonized America, but they weren’t exactly ‘Puritanical’ about their booze, either.

Our former colonial overlords over at the BBC take a look at America’s complicated past with the sauce, vis a vis a new exhibit at the National Archives, and find that we were actually a much boozier bunch back in the day. “The initial ship that came over from England to Massachusetts Bay actually carried more beer than water,” says the senior curator of Spirited Republic: Alcohol in American History.

The Founding Fathers were no exception: Samuel Adams, who has a beer named for him, was partner in his dad’s malt house, and Thomas Jefferson was really into his European wines.

Americans in the late 1700s boozed from breakfast til bedtime, with what the BBC calls a “healthful dram for breakfast,” a bit of whiskey with lunch, ale with dinner, and a nightcap to end the day. It was an era when many were doing fieldwork and not rocket science, thus a near-constant low-level buzz wasn’t considered particularly damaging.

Being Americans, however, we took things too far, going from an annual average consumption of 5.8 gallons of pure alcohol per person in 1790 to 7.1 gallons in 1830 (consider that modern Americans tipple 2.3 gallons a year), which eventually triggered Prohibition.

The exhibit also features a section on alcohol and the presidency, notes DCist, from FDR’s penchant for taking a break from running the nation with a decidedly strong cocktail to Betty Ford’s struggles with alcoholism.

Unfortunately too much booze can kill you and according to the latest research, 1 in 10 adults are killed by heavy drinking. (Looking for a cure for a hangover? Check this out).

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.

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