The Alcoholic Republic

1 Pages 295 Words

The Alcoholic Republic

In the book “The Alcoholic Republic”, written by W. J. Rorabaugh, expresses the impact of alcoholism on the first 50 years of American History. . From judges, doctors, women, and children, they all had a taste of the blissful intoxication that America binged on from 1790 to 1840.
Young America was addicted to hard pure spirits, whiskey, rum, gin, and brandy, which to those who know alcohol where 45% alcohol, and in the language of the distillers 90 proof (7). Though the spirits where the most popular, people also drank beer, cider, and wine, but alcohol in general, regardless of its form crossed many dense barriers of the time. The touched the educated elite to the slaves who belonged to them. “The Founding Fathers, fearful that American Republic would be destroyed in a flood of alcohol “ (6) caused them to take actions. The taverns, which John Adams condemned as “a weakening of religious influence” where instead actually “seed beds of the Revolution” (35) that fertilized to help bloom and grow. Inside these righteous seeds lay a growing hate against the British and the tyranny they enforced. So, in a keen sense the “good creature” sprouted the idea of revolution and independence. A thing such as Alexander Hamilton’s whiskey tax failure was true evidence that Americans have indeed made alcohol an “American Tradition”. America’s reasons for turning to the spirits were stresses of the new industrialization, the loneliness of the frontier, and strive to build this country anew.
The book is a severe eye opener; it is a serious concept that never crossed my mind. I really enjoyed most of it; other stuff was kind of boring and redundant but nevertheless I learned a lot about American History I never dreamed of conceiving....