[15] Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England, vol. i, pp. 188, 195; Bishop, History of American Manufactures, vol. i, pp. 245 et seq.

[16] Ibid., p. 250; vol. ii, pp. 501, 502. See also Clark, History of Manufactures in the United States, p. 480.

[17] Ibid. Bishop notes the fact that in 1721 a small village of forty houses, near Boston, made 3000 barrels of cider.

[18] Ibid., p. 269; Weeden, op. cit., vol. i, pp. 144, 148 et seq.

[19] The impression that this decline toward a general state of drunkenness set in early will appear from the following excerpt taken from the Synod’s report on “The Necessity of Reformation”, presented to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1679: “VIII. There is much Intemperance. The heathenish and Idolatrous practice of Health-drinking is become too general a Provocation. Dayes of Training, and other publick Solemnityes, have been abused in this respect: and not only English but Indians have been debauched, by those that call themselves Christians, who have put their bottles to them, and made them drunk also. This is a crying Sin, and the more aggravated in that the first Planters of this Colony did (as in the Patent expressed) come into this Land with a design to Convert the Heathen unto Christ.... There are more Temptations and occasions unto That Sin, publickly allowed of, than any necessity doth require; the proper end of Taverns, &c. being to that end only, a far less number would suffice: But it is a common practice for Town dwellers, yea and Church-members, to frequent publick Houses, and there to misspend precious Time, unto the dishonour of the Gospel, and the scandalizing of others, who are by such examples induced to sin against God.” Cf. Walker, Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, p. 430.

[20] Hatch, The Administration of the American Revolutionary Army, pp. 89 et seq. The supplies of beer, cider, and rum furnished the armies were not always held to be adequate. After the battle of Brandywine, Congress ordered thirty hogsheads of rum distributed among the soldiers as a tribute to their gallant conduct in that battle. Cf. One Hundred Years of Temperance, New York, 1886, article by Daniel Dorchester on “The Inception of the Temperance Reformation”, p. 113, for comments on the effects of the return of drunken soldiers to the ranks of citizenship.

[21] Weeden, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 883, supplies the following concerning the character of the coasting and river trade, which the exigencies of the war greatly stimulated: “A cargo from Boston to Great Barrington and Williamstown contained 11 hdds. and 6 tierces of rum, 3 bbls. of wine, 2 do. of brandy, 1/2 bale of cotton, and 1 small cask of indigo. The proportion of ‘wet goods’ to the small quantity of cotton and indigo is significant, and indicates the prevailing appetites”.

[22] In 1783 Massachusetts had no fewer than sixty-three distilleries. In 1783 this state distilled 1,475,509 gallons of spirits from foreign, and 11,490 gallons from domestic materials. From 1790 to 1800 in the United States, 23,148,404 gallons of spirits were distilled from molasses; of this 6,322,640 gallons were exported, leaving a quantity for home consumption so large as to supply its own comment. Low grain prices, together with the difficulty of gaining access to the molasses markets, hastened a transition to grain distilling near the end of the eighteenth century, with the result that in 1810 Mr. Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, reported not less than 9,000,000 gallons of spirits as having been distilled from grain and fruit in 1801. Bishop, History of American Manufactures, vol. ii, pp. 30, 65, 83, 152; Clark, History of Manufactures in the United States, p. 230.

[23] Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 6th ser., vol. iv, Belknap Papers, pt. iii, p. 440.

[24] Ibid., p. 508.

[25] Diary of William Bentley, vol. ii, p. 92: May 31, 1794: “The observation of holydays at Election is an abuse in this part of the Country. Not only at our return yesterday, did we observe crowds around the new Tavern at the entrance of the Town, but even at this day, we saw at Perkins’ on the neck, persons of all descriptions, dancing to a fiddle, drinking, playing with pennies, &c. It is proper such excesses should be checked.” Cf. also ibid., pp. 58, 363, 410, 444 et seq. Cf. also Earle, Alice Morse, Stage-coach and Tavern Days, New York, 1900.

[26] Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 6th Series, vol. iv, Belknap Papers, pt. iii, p. 456. Jeremiah Libbey writes of the situation at Portsmouth, [N. H.?]: “The common allowance of rum to labourers here is half a pint per day, which has been the rule or custom as long as I can remember. There are several persons in this town that are endeavouring to abolish the custom by giving them more wages in lieu of the allowance, as it is call’d; but the custom is so rooted that it is very difficult to break it. The attachment is so great, that in general if you were to offer double the price of the allowance in money it would not be satisfactory to the labourers, and altho’ that is the case & it is the ruin of them and familys in many instances ... untill a substitute of beer or some other drink is introduced in general, it will be difficult to get over it”.

[27] Diary of William Bentley, vol. i, pp. 167, 175, 217, 218, 244, 247, 248, 255, 256, 281 et seq.

[28] Autobiography and Correspondence of Lyman Beecher, vol. i, p. 30.

[29] Ibid., p. 24. The description of the meeting of the Consociation, pp. 214 et seq., is unusually vivid: “ ... the preparation for our creature comforts in the sitting-room of Mr. Heart’s house, besides food, was a broad sideboard, covered with decanters and bottles, and sugar, and pitchers of water. There we found all the various kinds of liquors then in vogue. The drinking was apparently universal. This preparation was made by the society as a matter of course. When the Consociation arrived, they always took something to drink round; also before public services, and always on their return. As they could not all drink at once, they were obliged to stand and wait, as people do when they go to mill. There was a decanter of spirits also on the dinnertable, to help digestion, and gentlemen partook of it through the afternoon and evening as they felt the need, some more and some less; and the sideboard, with the spillings of water, and sugar, and liquor, looked and smelled like the bar of a very active grog-shop. None of the Consociation were drunk; but that there was not, at times, a considerable amount of exhilaration, I can not affirm.” It was Beecher’s judgment that “the tide was swelling in the drinking habits of society.—” Ibid., p. 215.

[30] Ibid., vol. i, pp. 133, 138, 163, 255, 256, 371; vol. ii. pp. 294, 328 et seq.

[31] A Discourse on Some Events of the Last Century, delivered in the Brick Church in New Haven, on Wednesday, January 7, 1801. By Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College, New Haven, 1801. Cf. this author’s Travels in New England and New York, vol. iv, pp. 353 et seq.

[32] Dwight’s Century Sermon, p. 18.

[33] Ibid., pp. 18 et seq.

[34] The testimony of a European traveller should prove as edifying as that of an intimate participant in the country’s life. In 1788, Brissot de Warville visited America. He remarked the change which had come over the people of New England, of Boston in particular. The old “Presbyterian austerity, which interdicted all pleasures, even that of walking; which forbade travelling on Sunday, which persecuted men whose opinions were different from their own” was no longer to be encountered. Yet no evidence of the corruption of morals presented itself to the distinguished traveller. On the contrary, he remarked the general wholesomeness and soundness of domestic life, and the general poise and temperance of a people which, “since the ancient puritan austerity has disappeared”, was able to play cards without yielding to the gambling instinct and to enjoy its clubs and parties without offending the spirit of courtesy and good-breeding. The glow upon the soul of Brissot as he contemplates the prosperity and unaffected simplicity of the people of Boston is evident as he writes: “With what pleasure did I contemplate this town, which first shook off the English yoke! which, for a long time, resisted all the seductions, all the menaces, all the horrors of a civil war! How I delighted to wander up and down that long street, whose simple houses of wood border the magnificent channel of Boston, and whose full stores offer me all the productions of the continent which I had quitted! How I enjoyed the activity of the merchants, the artizans, and the sailors! It was not the noisy vortex of Paris; it was not the unquiet, eager mien of my countrymen; it was the simple, dignified air of men, who are conscious of liberty, and who see in all men their brothers and their equals. Everything in this street bears the marks of a town still in its infancy, but which, even in its infancy, enjoys a great prosperity.... Boston is just rising from the devastations of war, and its commerce is flourishing; its manufactures, productions, arts, and sciences, offer a number of curious and interesting observations.” (Brissot De Warville, New Travels in the United States of America, pp. 70–82.) Equally laudatory comment respecting the state of society in Connecticut is made by Brissot (pp. 108, 109).