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The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition
Recreating America's first fifty intemperate years, when, from 1790 to 1840, Americans drank more alcoholic beverages per capita than at any other time in history, Rorabaugh examines some of the reasons why Americans drank so much
320 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
October 18, 2025
In Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition, historian W.J. Rorabaugh provides readers with a study that is both perceptive and readable. At its best, it provides moments of rare insight, while at its worst, it presents ill-considered opinions that are out of place in a scholarly historical work. Unlike other works of social history, it presents evidence not in isolation but against the framework of major historical events in American history. Rorabaugh's study largely concentrates on early America, while taking later events into consideration as appropriate.
Rorabaugh pinpoints several reasons why the consumption of a particular alcoholic beverage increased or decreased in early America. He also shows why Americans were driven to drink in excess in group gatherings. What remains arguably elusive, despite Rorabaugh's efforts, is what compelled then (and now) Americans to binge drink by themselves.
Rorabaugh argues that Americans ultimately embraced temperance as an escape valve, with abstention filling the void that alcohol once filled. The temperance movement successfully aligned itself with the economic and religious trends of the times. While the temperance movement was successful in curbing alcohol consumption (especially consumption of distilled spirits), it was ultimately unsuccessful in reducing binge drinking.
In its closing chapter, Alcoholic Republic goes off the rails from an interpretive standpoint. Rorabaugh attempts to tie the temperance movement and popular evangelical faith in early America to a myriad of later historical events in nineteenth and even twentieth-century America. This portion of the book reads more like a social media or blog post instead of a scholarly finding.
Taking into account some reservations, Alcoholic Republic is a readable and unusually perceptive study.
Rorabaugh pinpoints several reasons why the consumption of a particular alcoholic beverage increased or decreased in early America. He also shows why Americans were driven to drink in excess in group gatherings. What remains arguably elusive, despite Rorabaugh's efforts, is what compelled then (and now) Americans to binge drink by themselves.
Rorabaugh argues that Americans ultimately embraced temperance as an escape valve, with abstention filling the void that alcohol once filled. The temperance movement successfully aligned itself with the economic and religious trends of the times. While the temperance movement was successful in curbing alcohol consumption (especially consumption of distilled spirits), it was ultimately unsuccessful in reducing binge drinking.
In its closing chapter, Alcoholic Republic goes off the rails from an interpretive standpoint. Rorabaugh attempts to tie the temperance movement and popular evangelical faith in early America to a myriad of later historical events in nineteenth and even twentieth-century America. This portion of the book reads more like a social media or blog post instead of a scholarly finding.
Taking into account some reservations, Alcoholic Republic is a readable and unusually perceptive study.
September 12, 2017
This is one of those books of a quality that only comes along once or twice a year. Easily one of the most perceptive works of social history I've ever read, in a way that is both ambitious and precise.
Rorabaugh has clearly found one of the main threads to American history, and it's one that we all laugh at or ignore so we missed. Apparently Americans drank more from 1790 to 1840 than they ever have before or since, and the author sets out to explain why. He does a pretty good job on such an amazingly large topic in only 222 pages and some well-padded-out appendices.
It isn't only that the trade in alcoholic beverages was the foundation of the great American marketplace or the tension between temperance and nontemperance set the pace for the Civil War. Rorabaugh attempts to deal with realities of American life so enormous that we don't even try to address them. Rorabaugh actually discusses the issue of loneliness to transappalachian society. This is something so obvious that I'm amazed I've never read it before. He deals with human motivation and the difficulty of realizing dreams in American society -- and how that leads to drink -- and exactly what kind of drink that leads to. At the very end, he brings the reader to the inescapable conclusion that America drank because it was lonely and feeling nervous, that it stopped because it was worried that it was interfering with work, that it really stopped when all the immigrants arrived and it became a low-class thing to do, and that temperance advocates chased industrialists in an ever-increasing spiral of "the reason the economy fails is that poors don't work hard enough/spend too much time drinking" until both ideas reached their apotheosis and natural collapse in Prohibition, Repeal, and the Great Depression.
And he backs it up with numbers!
And he's also got a wicked sense of humor.
I can't list the ways this book transformed my understanding of the American soul and the American marketplace. I understand more about the War on Drugs than I ever have before -- and this book was written before Reagan took office! Can't recommend it highly enough.
Rorabaugh has clearly found one of the main threads to American history, and it's one that we all laugh at or ignore so we missed. Apparently Americans drank more from 1790 to 1840 than they ever have before or since, and the author sets out to explain why. He does a pretty good job on such an amazingly large topic in only 222 pages and some well-padded-out appendices.
It isn't only that the trade in alcoholic beverages was the foundation of the great American marketplace or the tension between temperance and nontemperance set the pace for the Civil War. Rorabaugh attempts to deal with realities of American life so enormous that we don't even try to address them. Rorabaugh actually discusses the issue of loneliness to transappalachian society. This is something so obvious that I'm amazed I've never read it before. He deals with human motivation and the difficulty of realizing dreams in American society -- and how that leads to drink -- and exactly what kind of drink that leads to. At the very end, he brings the reader to the inescapable conclusion that America drank because it was lonely and feeling nervous, that it stopped because it was worried that it was interfering with work, that it really stopped when all the immigrants arrived and it became a low-class thing to do, and that temperance advocates chased industrialists in an ever-increasing spiral of "the reason the economy fails is that poors don't work hard enough/spend too much time drinking" until both ideas reached their apotheosis and natural collapse in Prohibition, Repeal, and the Great Depression.
And he backs it up with numbers!
And he's also got a wicked sense of humor.
I can't list the ways this book transformed my understanding of the American soul and the American marketplace. I understand more about the War on Drugs than I ever have before -- and this book was written before Reagan took office! Can't recommend it highly enough.
December 18, 2008
This book is an interesting read. One review put it best, "Scholarly and entertaining...The author succeeds in using one category of our material culture--drinking--as a window on the whole society. What we see is sometimes amusing and sometimes appalling..." The first chapter (a nation of drunkards) is very entertaining and the second and third wane a bit. Yet in the fourth (Whiskey feed) it picks back up as the author begins to delve into the root of the drinking problem for early Americans (Circa 1770's-1830's) which he defines as Anxieties. The Anxieties stem from a changing country that left many feeling uneasy and unsettled. Alcohol become the answer. Yet in later 19th century the imbibing turned into the race for material goods, and an almost obsessive nature in religious revival, which took the place of the anxiety reducer (alchohol) for the troubled citizens of the U.S.
April 20, 2020
a good overview on how americans drank in the formative early years of the country and how they talked and felt about it. i'm not sure i wanted or needed the speculative mass psychology of why, past the simple observation that life was weird and extra messy so people acted accordingly, but this was written in the 70s so fair play. i do wonder about how and where the energies of the temperance movement are circulating -- if cultural energy is neither created nor destroyed. back to detective novels for a while
April 11, 2009
I read this in my first year of ollege, bad idea on behalf of the professor. I remember feeling justified in heavy drinking. This book is a great read and a token of history people like to deny. Drink up America, that's been our past time longer than baseball.
July 26, 2023
The author does an amazing job elaborating on the circumstances that led to high alcohol consumption in the early 1800s.
August 20, 2025
Easily one of the most informative books on early american society I have read. Speaks about the early colonies through the lens of alcohol and speaks of its ramifications. Truly a must read for those interested in american social history.
March 18, 2024
Chapters 5 and 6 are some of the most interesting reading I've found on the societal and cultural motivations of drinking. Didnt agree with everything but that wasnt the point, the speculative psychology was thought provoking and the author seemed to have some insight or intuition into why people drink. It is focused on early nineteenth century America, but that being the period that the country formed itself and set the foundation for everything after it, it still feels relevant today.
April 26, 2011
A look at why Americans drank so much in the early years of the country, this book delves into economic, social and psychological reasons. Here's one of the economic factors, for farmers isolated in the interior of the country:
"To market their surplus grain more profitably, western farmers turned to distilling. Whiskey could be shipped to eastern markets through New Orleans or overland. A man could make money sending his whiskey overland by pack animal because distillation so reduced the bulk of grain that a horse could carry six times as much corn in that form. Thus, a western planter could load his horse with liquor, head across the mountains, trade some of the alcohol for feed en route, and arrive in the East with a surplus to sell in a favorable eastern whiskey market. Whereas corn sold for 25 cents a bushel in Kentucky, whiskey brought, after trip expenses, four times that amount in Philadelphia."
"To market their surplus grain more profitably, western farmers turned to distilling. Whiskey could be shipped to eastern markets through New Orleans or overland. A man could make money sending his whiskey overland by pack animal because distillation so reduced the bulk of grain that a horse could carry six times as much corn in that form. Thus, a western planter could load his horse with liquor, head across the mountains, trade some of the alcohol for feed en route, and arrive in the East with a surplus to sell in a favorable eastern whiskey market. Whereas corn sold for 25 cents a bushel in Kentucky, whiskey brought, after trip expenses, four times that amount in Philadelphia."
December 16, 2025
More later
September 20, 2018
While the book tells an interesting story about early America, Rorabaugh's analysis seemed limited to "whatever conditions heavy drinkers lived under must be conditions that cause heavy drinking."
March 14, 2025
The Alcoholic Republic by W.J. Rorabaugh focuses on the American drinking habits in the dawn of the new republic. Rorabaugh asserts that Americans drank uniquely massive amounts of liquor. After the American Revolution interrupted imports like rum, people turned to drinks they could make themselves. American-produced beverages include whiskey, cider, and brandy. Household stills and equipment were not uncommon. Distilling was a great way for farmers to use extra grains and apples. A lack of clean water also fueled the demand for alcohol. Liquor was also commonly believed to have medical benefits. All of these factors combined to grow the popularity of liquor as the drink of choice among Americans. Interestingly, after the war, the Republic introduced domestic laws that were very similar to those of the British tax system. Westerners were taxed for turning grain into whiskey, which they found deeply unfair. Resentment over this and the lack of currency led to the Whiskey Rebellion.
Farmers also struggled to afford to ship their gain across the Appalachians, and New Orleans was flooded by the amount of grain shipped down the Mississippi river. The excess in grain led to a rise in pig farming, which led to a rise in pork production. Eventually, pigs were fed slop, and the gain was turned into whiskey, allowing farmers to profit from both products. This system led to a huge amount of whiskey being produced to meet the demand of the public, who were quickly making whiskey the most popular drink in America.
There were efforts in the US to curb the amount of whiskey in the American diet. Surgeon General Benjamin Rush advocated for a more balanced diet. Rorabaugh points out that the lack of canning made it difficult to preserve vegetables, and most food had to be dried. He does fail to talk about pickling as a viable option to preserving vegetables through the winter. This can be overlooked as this is a book about America’s alcohol consumption, not its diet.
While Rorabaugh does create an interesting social history looking at the farmers and working class behind the growth of both the production and popularity of whiskey, some gaps need to be addressed. Rorabaugh does not pay much attention to women’s role in society. He highlights that both women and children were “consuming 12 million gallons” of alcohol a year, but does not go into at all the effect this might have had on women, the children’s development, pregnancy, or even the effects of living with drunken spouses. Fetal alcohol syndrome is never mentioned in this study, nor is there any look into the long-term psychological effects of this “American tradition.”
Chapter five also provides an argument that is a bit hard to justify. Rorabaugh argues that US citizens found themselves in a uniquely stressful position due to finding themselves in, “a period of unprecedented change for which I believe the traditional society of the tie was institutionally, ideologically, and psychologically unprepared.” He goes on to say that every aspect of American life between 1790 and 1830 fundamentally changed in a way other groups had not dealt with before. To suggest that these rapid social changes during this period occurred exclusively for the people of the United States is highly questionable. France was going through the same revolutionary changes the US had gone through, arguably in a much more stressful way, South America and Hati were also beginning these same revolutionary changes, China was struggling with a very similar situation with interior famers going opium instead of whiskey, England was plagued with fears of the Napoleonic wars, and every country in mainland Europe that was not France was having their lands raided and citied taken by France in this time frame. Even more so, it would be hard to argue that out of all groups in the United States that deserved to feel stress and anxiety, none would be more stressed than the enslaved. Rorabaugh does not talk enough about the stress levels and alcohol consumption of the African American population. Looking at the alcohol consumption of some of these other places of crisis shows that their consumption is not that different than the US. In fact, in France during the revolution, alcohol consumption was higher than in the US: “around 300 liters (79 gallons) of wine were drunk in Paris per year per adult male on the eve of the Revolution, as opposed to 20 liters of beer and six liters of cider.” Rorabaugh cites the average American man drinking 20 gallons. While it is an interesting idea to look into the psychology behind what is making Americans drink, Rorabaugh does not go beyond speculative psychology.
Rorabaugh creates a well put together narrative for how whiskey became so popular in the United States by looking at the problems with other drinks and the benefits to farmers in making whiskey. His argument does need a deeper look if it is meant to be a social history about alcohol and its effects on the republic as a whole. More attention needs to be given to disenfranchised groups as well as seen through a more global lens.
Farmers also struggled to afford to ship their gain across the Appalachians, and New Orleans was flooded by the amount of grain shipped down the Mississippi river. The excess in grain led to a rise in pig farming, which led to a rise in pork production. Eventually, pigs were fed slop, and the gain was turned into whiskey, allowing farmers to profit from both products. This system led to a huge amount of whiskey being produced to meet the demand of the public, who were quickly making whiskey the most popular drink in America.
There were efforts in the US to curb the amount of whiskey in the American diet. Surgeon General Benjamin Rush advocated for a more balanced diet. Rorabaugh points out that the lack of canning made it difficult to preserve vegetables, and most food had to be dried. He does fail to talk about pickling as a viable option to preserving vegetables through the winter. This can be overlooked as this is a book about America’s alcohol consumption, not its diet.
While Rorabaugh does create an interesting social history looking at the farmers and working class behind the growth of both the production and popularity of whiskey, some gaps need to be addressed. Rorabaugh does not pay much attention to women’s role in society. He highlights that both women and children were “consuming 12 million gallons” of alcohol a year, but does not go into at all the effect this might have had on women, the children’s development, pregnancy, or even the effects of living with drunken spouses. Fetal alcohol syndrome is never mentioned in this study, nor is there any look into the long-term psychological effects of this “American tradition.”
Chapter five also provides an argument that is a bit hard to justify. Rorabaugh argues that US citizens found themselves in a uniquely stressful position due to finding themselves in, “a period of unprecedented change for which I believe the traditional society of the tie was institutionally, ideologically, and psychologically unprepared.” He goes on to say that every aspect of American life between 1790 and 1830 fundamentally changed in a way other groups had not dealt with before. To suggest that these rapid social changes during this period occurred exclusively for the people of the United States is highly questionable. France was going through the same revolutionary changes the US had gone through, arguably in a much more stressful way, South America and Hati were also beginning these same revolutionary changes, China was struggling with a very similar situation with interior famers going opium instead of whiskey, England was plagued with fears of the Napoleonic wars, and every country in mainland Europe that was not France was having their lands raided and citied taken by France in this time frame. Even more so, it would be hard to argue that out of all groups in the United States that deserved to feel stress and anxiety, none would be more stressed than the enslaved. Rorabaugh does not talk enough about the stress levels and alcohol consumption of the African American population. Looking at the alcohol consumption of some of these other places of crisis shows that their consumption is not that different than the US. In fact, in France during the revolution, alcohol consumption was higher than in the US: “around 300 liters (79 gallons) of wine were drunk in Paris per year per adult male on the eve of the Revolution, as opposed to 20 liters of beer and six liters of cider.” Rorabaugh cites the average American man drinking 20 gallons. While it is an interesting idea to look into the psychology behind what is making Americans drink, Rorabaugh does not go beyond speculative psychology.
Rorabaugh creates a well put together narrative for how whiskey became so popular in the United States by looking at the problems with other drinks and the benefits to farmers in making whiskey. His argument does need a deeper look if it is meant to be a social history about alcohol and its effects on the republic as a whole. More attention needs to be given to disenfranchised groups as well as seen through a more global lens.
April 13, 2023
Picked this book up at a National Park in Pennsylvania. Thought it a bit odd to find such a title in the place but since I like to read about spirits/distilling/etc, I bought it. After only a couple chapters I realized why it was sold at a National Park. The book is an incredible analysis of how drinking trends in the 1700s/1800s were interrelated with the economy, both on the east side and west side of the Appalachians. While I thought it would be a fun book about drinking, the education on the economics of those times was truly enlightening. Because of the great lesson on economics (cost of grain, shipment of bulk goods, impact of rivers/canals, etc), I highlighted a lot of lines in the book. Below is a snapshot of those highlights.
- Members of society’s upper classes, having failed in their efforts to reduce the number of licensed taverns, then sought to impose stricter laws for their regulation. Measures were enacted to discourage Sunday sales… p 34. PJK. Interesting. No wonder we have no many rules concerning the spirits industry - its several hundred years of regulation.
- Patriots viewed public houses as the nurseries of freedom, in front of which liberty poles were invariably erected. p35. PJK. Now I better understand the Liberty Pole distillery I visited in Pennsylvania.
- When the new government was installed in 1789, Alexander Hamilton was appointed secretary of the treasury. In that office, he was responsible for proposing taxes to finance the new government. P51. PJK. Someone had to do it. All governments have to find a funding mechanism.
- Hamilton himself favored a duty on domestic spirituous liquors. It was fair, he later declared, because distilled beverages were consumed “throughout the United States.” No tax “could operate with greater equality…” p 51. PJK. Brilliant! The best taxes are those that apply to everyone.
- New Hampshire’s Samuel Livermore thought it a good idea to be “drinking down the national debt.” P53. PJK. Funny. Or sad, depending upon your perspective.
- Hamilton’s whiskey tax was not a success…. Throughout the South, the secretary of the treasury found it difficult to hire tax collectors; in Kentucky, it was impossible to organize the state as an excise jurisdiction. P53.
- In 1792, western Pennsylvanians led by Albert Gallatin drafted a petition to Congress urging repeal of the duty…. This petition annoyed Hamilton, who felt the frontiersmen were parasitic. They contributed little to the treasury because they bought few imports, yet they demanded and received expensive military protection from Indian raids. P54.
- The excise failed, in part, because it was not in line with economic reality. America was a rural nation in which farmers produced a grain surplus that could be marketed only as distilled spirits. These small farmers hated the whiskey tax because it adversely affected the market for their surplus grain. P56.
- Travelers to western Pennsylvania observed that in that region one of every thirty families or an even greater proportion owned stills. In parts of Kentucky these instruments were the only manufactured items that had been brought from the east. P69.
- The citizens of St. Louis, for example, had to let water from the Mississippi River stand before they could drink it, and the sediment often filled one-quarter of the container. P96. PJK. Guess some things never change; the Ohio/Mississippi are still cloudy even today.
- Even when milk was plentiful, many did not drink it for fear of the fatal ‘milk sickness.’ P99. PJK. Bad water, bad milk, expensive wine… no wonder cheap whiskey was so popular/necessary.
- Members of society’s upper classes, having failed in their efforts to reduce the number of licensed taverns, then sought to impose stricter laws for their regulation. Measures were enacted to discourage Sunday sales… p 34. PJK. Interesting. No wonder we have no many rules concerning the spirits industry - its several hundred years of regulation.
- Patriots viewed public houses as the nurseries of freedom, in front of which liberty poles were invariably erected. p35. PJK. Now I better understand the Liberty Pole distillery I visited in Pennsylvania.
- When the new government was installed in 1789, Alexander Hamilton was appointed secretary of the treasury. In that office, he was responsible for proposing taxes to finance the new government. P51. PJK. Someone had to do it. All governments have to find a funding mechanism.
- Hamilton himself favored a duty on domestic spirituous liquors. It was fair, he later declared, because distilled beverages were consumed “throughout the United States.” No tax “could operate with greater equality…” p 51. PJK. Brilliant! The best taxes are those that apply to everyone.
- New Hampshire’s Samuel Livermore thought it a good idea to be “drinking down the national debt.” P53. PJK. Funny. Or sad, depending upon your perspective.
- Hamilton’s whiskey tax was not a success…. Throughout the South, the secretary of the treasury found it difficult to hire tax collectors; in Kentucky, it was impossible to organize the state as an excise jurisdiction. P53.
- In 1792, western Pennsylvanians led by Albert Gallatin drafted a petition to Congress urging repeal of the duty…. This petition annoyed Hamilton, who felt the frontiersmen were parasitic. They contributed little to the treasury because they bought few imports, yet they demanded and received expensive military protection from Indian raids. P54.
- The excise failed, in part, because it was not in line with economic reality. America was a rural nation in which farmers produced a grain surplus that could be marketed only as distilled spirits. These small farmers hated the whiskey tax because it adversely affected the market for their surplus grain. P56.
- Travelers to western Pennsylvania observed that in that region one of every thirty families or an even greater proportion owned stills. In parts of Kentucky these instruments were the only manufactured items that had been brought from the east. P69.
- The citizens of St. Louis, for example, had to let water from the Mississippi River stand before they could drink it, and the sediment often filled one-quarter of the container. P96. PJK. Guess some things never change; the Ohio/Mississippi are still cloudy even today.
- Even when milk was plentiful, many did not drink it for fear of the fatal ‘milk sickness.’ P99. PJK. Bad water, bad milk, expensive wine… no wonder cheap whiskey was so popular/necessary.
March 23, 2015
This is part of my American history inquiries into the role alcohol has played in the American economy, a closer fit than Albion's Seed and Smuggler Nation, the novel by David Liss, The Whiskey Rebellion. American children learn about the Boston Tea Party, a protest against taxation by the Brits, somewhere in middle school where they also learn about the triangle of trade between America, Africa and the Caribbean. But they rarely learn about our founders engagement in smuggling, nor so they understand the importance of currency in paying taxes. In colonial America many people relied on the traditional debt structure from British banks to finance their establishment in the new world. But the banks were very far away and currency was not coming into the colonies as fast a money was leaving it to buy British manufactured goods. In short the colonists had difficulty finding actual money to pay debts and taxes on ships stopped by the British for searches. So the British ships would often claim the cargo for a tax offence, especially when that involved a desirable commodity, like rum. Rum itself became an alternative currency, one which appreciated value as it aged. It started out a molasses purchased in the "West indies" often from non-British colonies, and was shipped to New England where it was distilled into rum, and sold or exported to buy slaves. The triangle model seems to imply that it had a circular direction, molasses to New England, rum to Africa, slaves to the West Indies but actually all of the legs of the triangle ran in both directions-rum and American goods were shifted back to the Caribbean, slaves were brought up the colonial coast, etc. The most notable thing in my mind was that people purchased as slaves actually were priced by the hogshead...well the most notable beyond the horror of human trafficking and slavery. Liquor was subject to taxation, so the rum/slave ships were subject to search and seizure if money could not be produced to pay the tax, or proof of payment couldn't be produced. This is one of the roots of the American search laws, and the reason many of the founders were smugglers. This book gives important information about the nature of colonial trade, the reasons smuggling proliferated in colonial America.
It also focused on American drinking habits, and the reason for the customs around alcohol consumption in astonishing amounts. The American Revolution interrupted the rum imports, so people began to turn to alcoholic beverages they could produce themselves, whiskey being the favorite, in addition to homemade cider, brandies. Apparently stills were not uncommon household equipment in the wealthier landowners, and local farmers paid half of their product for the use of this equipment. It was a way of dealing with surplus grain supplies in the colonies, and a way to keep up with the seemingly endless thirst of the colonists. Water quality was poor and many people believed in the medicinal qualities of hard alcohol. Their diet was horrific and often lead to headaches and intestinal distress which they medicated with liquor. Visiting Europeans were disgusted by the food quality and the wolfish eating speed of their hosts, distressed even further by the amount of alcohol consumed after a vile meal.
Ironically the War produced the same situation domestically as the British tax laws- Westerners were taxed for turning grain into whiskey, which was unfair to them economically. They could not find currency to pay taxes on their stills. They could not afford to ship their grain over the mountains to the coast, and New Orleans was glutted with grain for those who chose to boat it down river. So they turned first to raising pigs who ate the corn, until New Orleans was glutted with pork. Then they turned to distilling, because pigs could be raised on the still slops and a profit could be made on whiskey. Still currency remained scarce and corruption in the excise process lead to the Whiskey Rebellion. The irony is that many of the Westerners were vets from the War of Independence, subjected to British style taxes when they tried to survive on the frontier. Many of them had accepted land in lieu of cash payment for their service, yet it was impossible to survive with the Hamilton Whiskey tax. The tax had been implemented to pay for the war debt, and vets were pinched in economics. This is illustrated in The Whiskey Rebellion with an intriguing plot line, but the issues are clearly represented in the non fiction I just read.
Benjamin Rush who served as an informal Surgeon General to the new United States observed that distilled liquor wasn't healthy for society or individuals and recommended adding veggies to a diet of salt pork and corn mush. The author points out that canning wasn't possible until the mid eighteen hundred, and all surplus from a farm had to be dried or placed in root cellars. He doesn't get into pickling or other domestic arts because he is focused on the birth of temperance movements in response to the national drinking customs. Temperance gained advocates in the 1830's and was often paired with abolution, actually was thought to be more important. it began just prior to industrialization of America, when the American dream of a homestead on the frontier was proving to be economically untenable. Trades had also been a corrupted dream because the wages of a journeyman were not adequate to save for one's own shop, and craft standards had been eroded by heavy drinking on the job. Many jobs were isolated and transient, like stage coach driving, riverboatmen, trapping, etc. which often lead to heavy consumption of alcohol. The book does not focus at all on the role of women in society, or the effects of isolation and drudgery that lead many women to excessively consume alcohol or suffer under the effects of a drunken spouse. Fetal alcohol syndrome gets no mention, and there is no indication of analysis of health effects brought on by the national pastime. These things were confronted by Graham, the health reformer who advocated vegetarianism, avoiding alcohol and the consumption of wholegrain Graham crackers, vegetables and water. Water purification had advanced, but few cities had municipal wells because they lacked the patronage system of England. Tea had unfortunate associations, but on the frontier people made local equivalents which were not universally popular. Eventually coffee became common because the government dropped import taxes to curb American thirst.
The book also explores why Americans went after the high alcohol content of distilled products, and the patterns of drunkenness, advancing some novel theories about American enchantment with efficiency. The whole Prohibition experience isn't much emphasized, especially the resistance and economic repercussions, which probably warrant their own study. Ironically there is no mention of alcohol and organized crime, which was essentially the condition that lead to the early Whiskey Rebellion, if I am to trust David Liss. But all in all I found this to be a very educational read.
It also focused on American drinking habits, and the reason for the customs around alcohol consumption in astonishing amounts. The American Revolution interrupted the rum imports, so people began to turn to alcoholic beverages they could produce themselves, whiskey being the favorite, in addition to homemade cider, brandies. Apparently stills were not uncommon household equipment in the wealthier landowners, and local farmers paid half of their product for the use of this equipment. It was a way of dealing with surplus grain supplies in the colonies, and a way to keep up with the seemingly endless thirst of the colonists. Water quality was poor and many people believed in the medicinal qualities of hard alcohol. Their diet was horrific and often lead to headaches and intestinal distress which they medicated with liquor. Visiting Europeans were disgusted by the food quality and the wolfish eating speed of their hosts, distressed even further by the amount of alcohol consumed after a vile meal.
Ironically the War produced the same situation domestically as the British tax laws- Westerners were taxed for turning grain into whiskey, which was unfair to them economically. They could not find currency to pay taxes on their stills. They could not afford to ship their grain over the mountains to the coast, and New Orleans was glutted with grain for those who chose to boat it down river. So they turned first to raising pigs who ate the corn, until New Orleans was glutted with pork. Then they turned to distilling, because pigs could be raised on the still slops and a profit could be made on whiskey. Still currency remained scarce and corruption in the excise process lead to the Whiskey Rebellion. The irony is that many of the Westerners were vets from the War of Independence, subjected to British style taxes when they tried to survive on the frontier. Many of them had accepted land in lieu of cash payment for their service, yet it was impossible to survive with the Hamilton Whiskey tax. The tax had been implemented to pay for the war debt, and vets were pinched in economics. This is illustrated in The Whiskey Rebellion with an intriguing plot line, but the issues are clearly represented in the non fiction I just read.
Benjamin Rush who served as an informal Surgeon General to the new United States observed that distilled liquor wasn't healthy for society or individuals and recommended adding veggies to a diet of salt pork and corn mush. The author points out that canning wasn't possible until the mid eighteen hundred, and all surplus from a farm had to be dried or placed in root cellars. He doesn't get into pickling or other domestic arts because he is focused on the birth of temperance movements in response to the national drinking customs. Temperance gained advocates in the 1830's and was often paired with abolution, actually was thought to be more important. it began just prior to industrialization of America, when the American dream of a homestead on the frontier was proving to be economically untenable. Trades had also been a corrupted dream because the wages of a journeyman were not adequate to save for one's own shop, and craft standards had been eroded by heavy drinking on the job. Many jobs were isolated and transient, like stage coach driving, riverboatmen, trapping, etc. which often lead to heavy consumption of alcohol. The book does not focus at all on the role of women in society, or the effects of isolation and drudgery that lead many women to excessively consume alcohol or suffer under the effects of a drunken spouse. Fetal alcohol syndrome gets no mention, and there is no indication of analysis of health effects brought on by the national pastime. These things were confronted by Graham, the health reformer who advocated vegetarianism, avoiding alcohol and the consumption of wholegrain Graham crackers, vegetables and water. Water purification had advanced, but few cities had municipal wells because they lacked the patronage system of England. Tea had unfortunate associations, but on the frontier people made local equivalents which were not universally popular. Eventually coffee became common because the government dropped import taxes to curb American thirst.
The book also explores why Americans went after the high alcohol content of distilled products, and the patterns of drunkenness, advancing some novel theories about American enchantment with efficiency. The whole Prohibition experience isn't much emphasized, especially the resistance and economic repercussions, which probably warrant their own study. Ironically there is no mention of alcohol and organized crime, which was essentially the condition that lead to the early Whiskey Rebellion, if I am to trust David Liss. But all in all I found this to be a very educational read.
March 4, 2023
Author Rorabaugh attempts to describe patterns in the consumption of alcohol in the United States of America from the late eighteenth century until the 1830s, from the peaks of indulgence to the troughs of abstinence. The focus is on hard liquor, mostly whiskey and rum, but some attention is paid to beer and wine. In the course of this he attempts to explain how record consumption in the early years was replaced by a temperance craze in the latter.
Personally, I found this book most interesting for the facts presented and for some of the, often amusing, anecdotes. As regards Rorabaugh's attempts to prescribe causes to the effects I was less satisfied. Missing from his analysis, for instance, is much consideration of the increasing availability of potable water and other liquid alternatives to alcoholic drinks.
Personally, I found this book most interesting for the facts presented and for some of the, often amusing, anecdotes. As regards Rorabaugh's attempts to prescribe causes to the effects I was less satisfied. Missing from his analysis, for instance, is much consideration of the increasing availability of potable water and other liquid alternatives to alcoholic drinks.
June 1, 2019
Fantastic, entertaining book at the intersection of history, economics, and gastronomy. Given how long ago it was published, it has clearly relevant echos today in the themes it touches such as the tug and forth between meat, vegetables, sweets and salts in our diets; sin taxes (soda today, whiskey in the early 1800s); the role of land speculation in diminishing social mobility (p 127); the use of food and drink by employers to cajole compliance and loyalty out of employees (p 132); and how societies cope with frustrated aspirations, be it through religion, food, or oblivion (e.g., drink, opiates).
June 8, 2024
This is a helpful sociological companion to the great "Drinking with Calvin and Luther" by James West. Very good read.
I am slightly suspicious of some possible special pleading in his interpretation of data, and some heaving leaning into the post hoc fallacy when finding the cause of heavy drinking in social conditions, rather than the spiritual conditions. He does touch on revival a bit, but far too little. (Maybe beyond the scope of his work, as they says). It's worth your time, however.
I am slightly suspicious of some possible special pleading in his interpretation of data, and some heaving leaning into the post hoc fallacy when finding the cause of heavy drinking in social conditions, rather than the spiritual conditions. He does touch on revival a bit, but far too little. (Maybe beyond the scope of his work, as they says). It's worth your time, however.
October 14, 2019
A fun if odd history that finds a depth and breadth of interesting alcohol-adjacent facts, but extrapolates them to conclusions that (self-admittedly) don't quite cohere.
It seems more a jumping-off point, a first foray for other academics to build on or critique.
Still, it's an interesting lens that really does explore an ignored part of the American story and it feels valuable and charming despite its stretchy flaws.
It seems more a jumping-off point, a first foray for other academics to build on or critique.
Still, it's an interesting lens that really does explore an ignored part of the American story and it feels valuable and charming despite its stretchy flaws.
July 12, 2019
Not a page turner in terms of a narrative, but still an important study of alcohol consumption in the colonial period, where our forefathers and foremothers drank about three times the amount of whiskey that any generation since. Rorabaugh has an interesting analysis about why alcohol use declined in the 1830s and 40s. Interesting info for those in the distillery business.
May 8, 2022
A book of my roommate’s that has caught my eye for some time. I failed to read the back of the book, or any online summary and misperceived that this was a story of prohibition. Instead, the book is a well researched, 43 year old doctoral dissertation on the history of alcohol consumption in the early 19th century.
Rorabaugh’s thesis is to demonstrate a link of certain social, political, economic and religious behavior/ideology with that of a massive increase in alcohol consumption. He does a great job of illustrating his point and is very convincing.
The book is very informative and often times quite fascinating. At other moments, the book feels slogged away at by repetitive concepts. Simply put, it could use a tight edit. The writing style? Informative. No knock, as it is a dissertation.
Often Interesting and highly informative, but not thoroughly.
5/10
Rorabaugh’s thesis is to demonstrate a link of certain social, political, economic and religious behavior/ideology with that of a massive increase in alcohol consumption. He does a great job of illustrating his point and is very convincing.
The book is very informative and often times quite fascinating. At other moments, the book feels slogged away at by repetitive concepts. Simply put, it could use a tight edit. The writing style? Informative. No knock, as it is a dissertation.
Often Interesting and highly informative, but not thoroughly.
5/10
February 25, 2024
A thoughtful review of drinking in the first 4decades of the 19th century.
This is a highly referenced overview about the consumption of alcohol in the early 19th century. The data is revealing. The author adds opinions about societal attitudes that are not necessarily anchored in evidence. However, it is a thoughtful book and stays true to the ebb and tide of the period.
This is a highly referenced overview about the consumption of alcohol in the early 19th century. The data is revealing. The author adds opinions about societal attitudes that are not necessarily anchored in evidence. However, it is a thoughtful book and stays true to the ebb and tide of the period.
June 27, 2024
The book was quite interesting while it focused on the drinking habits of the early USA—the what—but when the author moved on to the why—the reasons that drinking peaked and then declined—the narrative gets vague and inconclusive. The author’s repeated use of variants on “I believe” suggests that even he didn’t believe he had a convincing argument.
February 4, 2022
This book is pretty dated and you can tell by the style, but otherwise was a very interesting read. I learned a lot about drinking in America. I do not believe I was ever taught any of this in school.
August 1, 2017
Overall good but I have some reservations about his psychological generalizations later in the book.
May 13, 2018
A very enjoyable and enlightening read about the economic, social, and political influences around alcohol. It ranges from the American colonial period to the start of Prohibition.
April 30, 2023
This was an interesting historical / sociological treatise on just how entrenched drinking is in American culture. I found it illuminating but it was very, very repetitive.
December 2, 2024
Read it for class, probably my favorite of the books we read. Extremely interesting my parents want to read it as well.
January 14, 2013
Ineresting book. Scholarly if a bit dated writing style (1979 first publish date). Rorabaugh takes a few leaps to get to some of his conclusions, but he does go out of his way to explain his reasoning.
As luck would have it, late last year, I watched a History Channel program hosted by Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" fame which dramatized much of the information in this book - "How Booze Built America". Like it or not, whiskey played a huge part in the opening of the west in the 1800's. Likewise, while the 1791 "Whiskey Rebellion" usually gets a footnote in most history books, the background for the passions that drove it and Hamilton's reasoning for promoting the tax that led to it get even less play. This book helps explain the furor by placing "drink" in it's proper historical perspective.
Rorabaugh spends a good deal of time on the beginnings and development of the Temperance Movement which is in itself an interesting subject with it's ties to religion in the United States.
Not much has changed it would appear. Dictating morality seems to be an American pastime.
Very much worth a read (if only to rationalize to your drinking buddies how you are in fact simply following American tradition by getting zonked once a week).
As luck would have it, late last year, I watched a History Channel program hosted by Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" fame which dramatized much of the information in this book - "How Booze Built America". Like it or not, whiskey played a huge part in the opening of the west in the 1800's. Likewise, while the 1791 "Whiskey Rebellion" usually gets a footnote in most history books, the background for the passions that drove it and Hamilton's reasoning for promoting the tax that led to it get even less play. This book helps explain the furor by placing "drink" in it's proper historical perspective.
Rorabaugh spends a good deal of time on the beginnings and development of the Temperance Movement which is in itself an interesting subject with it's ties to religion in the United States.
Not much has changed it would appear. Dictating morality seems to be an American pastime.
Very much worth a read (if only to rationalize to your drinking buddies how you are in fact simply following American tradition by getting zonked once a week).
October 29, 2009
it was a good book. well researched, slightly dated. though that is the downfall of something being written 30 years ago. there wasn't much on race/ethnicity, nor gender. i am interested in how the second awakening transformed a "low motivated" society into a "highly motivated" society. sort of touched on, but not really. that sort of deviates away from thesis and such. but i guess it was necessary to bring it back to the general discussion of history. i know alcohol is cool and all, but no one wants to read something only about how drunk they got, and the wacky situations they got themselves into. or maybe people would, it might be kind of funny to read about the early republic citizens bumbling around drunkenly.
March 15, 2023
The book The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition by W. J. Rorabaugh discusses the huge spike in American liquor consumption during the late 1700s and early 1800s and what it meant for society, America’s founding, and culture as a whole. He talks primarily about the most consumed liquors at the time, such as whiskey, rum, gin, brandy, the New England staple of hard cider, beer, and wine. In his discussion, he tries to explain the social, economic and environmental factors that caused this specific period and possible motivations for why so many people drank so much. It was an entertaining read!
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