Alcoholism In Nineteenth-Century America

During the nineteenth -century America was known for it 's drinking abilities. The question some people want to know is "was early nineteenth-century America really a nation of drunkards" (Rorabaugh 5)? The United States was among the most addicted of nations, that in this respect it had out stripped all of Europe, and that "no other people ever indulged, so universally." Alcohol was looked upon as a disease like the plague and it was spreading wider and wider throughout the country. It was being considered as a growing evil.

Statesman like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams weren 't worried about the use of alcohol for they drank themselves, but the excessive use. In 1821 a wealthy scholar, George Ticknor, warned Jefferson,
"However, the charge made by alarmed clergymen and statesmen that in this respect America had outstripped every other nation was exaggerated" (10). During the early nineteenth-century the intake of alcohol in the United States with any other countries shows that Americans drank more than the English, Irish, or Prussians, but almost the same as the Scots or French, and less than the Swedes. Because Scotland, Sweden, and the United States were agricultural, rural, lightly populated, and geographically isolated from foreign markets they had stronger holds on distilled spirits. In Ireland and Prussia their economies lacked surplus grain and could not support a high level of distilled spirits production. In England taxes on distilled spirits were so high that people switched from whiskey and gin to beer. "Although through early nineteenth-century Americans did not drink more relatively affluent Europeans of that era, by modern standards they drank a lot"
"The subject received scant attention because it was "too delicate" to be discussed" (12). A woman was supposed to show restraint because she was delicate and fragile. The women were not allowed to drink in the public for instance in taverns, groceries unless they were traveling and recovering from a long journey. Even then they may only receive watered down and highly sugared spirits.

The delicacy of women led them to drink alcohol-based medicines such as stomach elixirs. However, there was some social occasion when it was proper for a woman to drink freely and openly. These were society dinners, suppers, evening parties, and at pioneer dances. At such occasions the whiskey bottle was passed around from mouth to mouth exempting neither age nor gender.

In the south, women slaves drank less than their share of liquor. Their masters provided watered spirits as a work incentive during harvest time. However, the law generally prohibited blacks from drinking at other times. In some districts blacks were supposed to be a majority of tavern customers, and slaves often found they could get liquor by exchanging their own garden vegetables or hams stolen from the master. "In 1798 North Carolina prohibited retailers from selling alcohol to slaves if their owners objected; in 1818 forbade slaves from vending liquor; and in 1833 forbade them from buying spirits under any condition"