Customer Reviews

The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition

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Given the drinking habits of Americans of all social classes in the 18th Century, as described by Prof. Rorabaugh, there's a good chance that some or many of the leaders who gathered in Philadelphia for various momentous decisions were "under the influence" a good part of every day. But then, so was everyone, man, woman, and child, with the probable exception of slaves. No stigma attached to the drinking of mild alcoholic beverages, such as the universal hard cider, although a few smart fellows - Ben Franklin and Ben Rush inter alia - had come to recognize some of the health issues of drinking hard liquors. There are amusing tales about the drinking habits of Chief Justice John Marshall. Before he took his seat on the Court, a tradition had been established of allowing an open bottle of fortified wine on each justice's desk on cold and rainy days. Supposedly Marshall, a life long heavy drinker, declared 'the USA is a large enough country that it must be raining somewhere every day' and thereafter allowed the bottles at all times.

Rorabaugh's writing style is a blend of down-home aw-shucks anecdote and solid scholarship, a combination that makes his book highly enjoyable but that somewhat distracts attention from the serious social history he is delivering. Changes in drinking habits, and in attitudes toward drinking, had a lot more to do with increasing hostility to certain immigrant populations - German and Irish - and with rapidly increasing class consciousness and economic inequality. Those are very significant threads in the social history of ante-bellum America, and Prof. Rorabaugh's account of the temperance movement can be seen as a synechdoche for the polarization of all American public lief and politics. In the long run, the same impulses that led earnest citizens to campaign for temperance were also the impulses that led to abolition, women's suffrage, civil service reforms, sanitation committees, and the "Social Gospel" movement - every progressive reform, in short, in American history before the repeal of Prohibition.

Don't let the cover of this book deceive you! This is substantial historiography, well researched and more insightful than inebriating.

The United States has long had a reputation for heavy drinking. Guzzling to the point of intoxication still reigns as a favorite pasttime for high school and college students, and even for some adults. Banning liquor on college campuses can lead to riots (a lesson learned the hard way even recently), and some people will jump through any impossible hoop to ensure their portion of the communal keg. Though alcohol still creates problems for the current generation, what were the attitudes of Americans towards it historically? Has drunkedness always been an issue in America? Not much literature existed on the subject in the 1970s, which the author noticed while researching nineteenth century temperance pamphlets. He then found that drinking weaves a deep and unpredictable path through United States history. But he found some unexpected things along the way. These findings led him to write "The Alcoholic Republic".

An eye-widening surprise opens the book: Americans actually drank more liquor between the years 1790 and 1820 than ever before or since. We actually drink half as much alcohol today as our post Revolutionary ancestors. A chart in the first chapter shows consumption peaking at over 5 gallons per capita in the early 1800s as contrasted with approximately 2 gallons in 1970. A sharp drop occurred in the 1840s and the rate hovered around 2 gallons going forward. Looking at data published by the National Institutes of Health after the book's 1979 publication shows that the rate peaked at only 2.7 gallons in the early 1980s and leveled off at 2.2 gallons in 2002. So the early nineteenth century rate of 5 gallons per capita still remains shocking even with current data. This leads to the inevitable question of why Americans used to drink so much.

To answer this vexing question the author delves into the history of alcohol in Colonial and Revolutionary America. Suprisingly, in the seventeeth century alcohol was seen as "A Good Creature" and as healthful and nutritious to drink. But slowly, by the 1720s, some suspected that alcohol contributed towards reprehensible behavior and disease. Unfortunately, access to alcohol, especially rum, increased as the price dropped (due to more efficient methods of production). So all classess could imbibe with near impunity. By the late eighteenth century some physicians such as Benjamin Rush (still practising the Galenic theory of medicine) began to publish anti liquor tracts condemning it as dangerous. Most were ignored (which invites a comparison to today's anti-smoking literature). But by the 1820s a national temperance movement had gathered momentum. Still, consumption continued, and rum even became a medium of exchange in early America. Water, by sharp contrast, was not drunk by most Americans because it was seen as unhealthy (except for rain water, which didn't contain thick sediments). Copious alcohol stood as the most palatable option for drinks. And everyone drank, including women, children, politicians, clergy, slaves, judges, juries, etc.

But, as the author explains, just because alcohol remained cheap doesn't mean that people had to drink it. What accounted for the 5 gallon consumption rate per capita? Here the discussion becomes more speculative but nonetheless remains fascinating. The author reflects on the upheavals caused by America's transition from an agrarian to an industrial society. Many people undoubtedly became displaced and confused as tradition gave way to commerce. Such travails led to anxiety, and these anxieties thus led people to drink in mass quantities (Appendix four provides more detailed support for this theory). In effect, early nineteenth century Americans were driven to drink by the astonishing changes of their time. Intuitively this sounds like a tenable theory, but finding conclusive evidence for it obviously remains difficult.

As the book progresses, it slowly expands beyond the subject of drinking and onto American society itself. Elements such as the conflict between egalitarian ideals and the reality of inequality get discussed, as well as the pressures to succeed in early industrial America. By the final chapter, the author expostulates on the balancing influences of American life and society, or the material versus the religious elements, and how we're currently out of balance. These subjects grow out of material related to the temperance movement, which gets credited, at least partially, for the drastic reduction of alcohol consumption between 1820 - 1840. The author dismisses various theories for the origins of the movement, and claims that people just needed an alternative to drinking, and abstinence fed their religious and moral sides (the "Second Great Awakening" had emerged in the early 1800s).

Regardless of its highly speculative nature, the book manages to provide loads of fuel for thought. Also, the author clearly states in the preface that he's not out to "prove" anything: "It matters less that my speculations are correct, although I hope that some of them will be proved in time, than that I have provoked the reader to think and explore for himself. That is why I wrote the book." In this the author definitely succeeds. The book will likely leave curious readers loaded with questions and attempting to test some of the theories the author evokes. And some of the sections dealing with disappointment and inflated expectations may even allow some to reflect on their own place in society. Also, a tenable picture of early American life emerges from the text along with glimpses of the evolution of America and its attitudes towards drinking (the section on elections will elicit gasps or bitter laughter). Lastly, perhaps the theories in this book, if solidified, could potentially point to societal warning signs by examining the the levels of alcohol consumption (along with other chemicals). In the end, the book will leave readers hoping that America will never see such heights of intoxication as it did in its early stages.

If you don't understand drinking, you don't understand American history. Colonial Americans drank like fish ‹ average whiskey consumption one pint daily. In the early 1800s they went on a bigger binge, mostly on hard liquor and drinking alone, rather than sociably like in the old days. Rorabaugh says this explains how the temperance movement came up just then, & it was the stress of industrialization & frontier loneliness & inflated dreams for the new nation. Readable & smart & has the good modern historical perspective on ³alcoholism² but¹s still skeptical of heavy intoxicant use.

William Rorabaugh, an associate professor of History at the University of Washington, provides a very interesting study of alcoholic consumption in the United States from the 18th century through the mid 1800s. He looks at the issue from the supply side (expense and technology in the production of distilled beverages and the import of rum) and the demand side. There is some eye-opening information in this work. The annual per capita consumption of alcohol between 1800-1830 exceeded 5 gallons; nearly triple today's consumption (p. 8). The demand for alcohol (particularly whiskey) stemmed from such things as alleged medical and dietary benefits, social camaraderie, a way to cope with a rapidly changing society, and such particle reasons as the lack of alternatives (water and milk was unhealthy and other substitutes were comparatively expensive) and strong beverages were needed to overcome the bland, monotonous American diet. Rorabaugh also devotes much of this study to the medical and moral critics of alcohol, including temperance societies. One doctor in the 1740s favored moderation: "not more than one bottle of wine each evening" (p. 32). I believe there is a lot of over-generalization in this study, especially when disillusionment over the voting system and the burden of living up to the ideals of the independent man are used as reasons for drinking (although drinking probably came before such feelings). Still, the book is extremely well-researched, with source notes at the end and several appendixes on estimating consumption of alcohol, cross-national comparisons of consumption, and cook books. The text, excluding the appendixes, is 222 pages and includes illustrations.

If you enjoy reading history, pull up a chair and pour down the whisky because you are going to read "The Alcoholic Republic." It is on the drinking patterns in the United States and the reading is simply interesting as well fascinating. You thought drinking was terrible these days lets go back to the great alcoholic binge of the nineteenth century.

"It was the consensus, then, among a wide variety of observers that Americans drank great quantities of alcohol. The beverages they drank were for the most part distilled liquors, commonly known as spirits.. whiskey, rum, gin and brandy. On the average those liquors were 45 percent alcohol, or, in the language of distillers, 90 proof." (Page 7)

It is simply a fun history book to read and recommend the drunkenness to anyone interested in the drinking habits of previous Americans. I give it five stars because it is one of the most interesting history books I have read in a long time.

What I liked:
The author used many humorous stories to make his point, keeping the book both entertaining and instructive. He also used primary sources, which upped his credibility. The book was easy to read and took the time to explain processes such as distilling. It gave a variety of arguments that one could easily understand and used logic and psychology. I particularly liked the use of psychology, and it was something one doesn't usually encounter in a history book. The Appendix also contained information, and my favorite was a recipe that used several different kinds of alcohol to make a "punch."
The author also gave background information on many things that were indirectly related to the drinking - things such as eating, jobs, urban sprawl, etc. It was very fascinating the way he tied everything together.
He gave a pretty objective view. He wasn't really making an argument, more like informing readers on what was going and why. He seemed to be unbiased and, in some ways, detached (but never bored with his subject).

What I didn't like:
The sources were not posted at the end of the page or chapter, but at the end of the book. This was slightly frustrating, as there were several times I wanted to check the author's source but it was a hassle to have to find it each time. Also, when several sources were used in one paragraph, he didn't "cite" anything until the end of the paragraph. This made it look like he wasn't citing some of his sources - if I hadn't read his notes on the bibliography I probably wouldn't have figured it out.
It was also slightly confusing to tell what time the author was talking about. He seemed to jump around from time period to time period, and it would've been nicer to have the focus on, say, the 1820s, when alcoholic beverage drinking was at an all-time high.


Overall, it was an excellent read, and I recommend it to all history buffs (or alcohol buffs).

hsrd to find classic.
The recent Ken Burns "Prohibition" film on PBS was probably based, in part, on facts in this classic. Americans in 1865 drank 4-5 times what modern Americans drink.