One glance at the title “The Alcoholic Republic,” and visions of probation and the controversy that erupted in early 20th century America are likely to flash through one’s mind. But this non-fictional informative book, written by William Rorabaugh, deals entirely with the nation from the Revolutionary War up to the Civil War. Rorabaugh lays out the facts for the reader early in the first chapter—America consumed significantly more alcohol during the 18th and 19th centuries than it has ever consumed since. But his purpose for writing the book doesn’t serve to educate on the fact that America was a nation of drunkards, but rather to shed light on the culture as a whole and the type of society that America was living in at the time of its drunken downfall. History is studied and retold over and over so that later generations have the ability to make changes that will affect their future for the better. While Rorabaugh does elaborate on the technical details that caused America to momentarily topple over, his underlying goal throughout this book is to recognize the corrupt culture surrounding Americans at the time, and how our American mindsets in society now have altered for the better.
In the late 18th century, the abundant alcohol consumption was not only accepted in America, it was a way of life. One staggering statistic showed that Americans ingested more alcohol than England and Ireland (the stereotypical drunk capital of the world). The normality of drinking in America was not solely limited to men. Women frequently drank whiskey and other forms of liquor bringing the female alcohol consumption total to 12.5% of America’s total alcohol consumption in the late 19th century. This may not appear to be a staggering number, but seeing as the words ‘women’ and ‘alcohol’ were rarely used in the same sentence, this number is larger than it appears. While it was acceptable for women to consume small bouts of alcohol at dinner parties, most of their abundant consumption came from private drinking parties usually held by themselves.
Drinking was a way of life for all generations living at the time. Children and the elderly alike were given whiskey, sometimes acting as a sleeping aid, other times as a painkiller. Rorabaugh explains, “As soon as a toddler was old enough to drink from a cup, he was coaxed to consume the sugary residue at the bottom of an adult’s nearly empty glass of spirits.” Boys perceived drinking as a sign of manhood, so it was not uncommon to see a boy of twelve walk into a tavern and demand a glass of brandy. Once Rorabaugh establishes the lenient mindset of alcohol in the late 1700s, he addresses the availability of liquor and accessibility for Americans at the time.
First and foremost, he clarifies that whiskey was cheap. Americans could consume great amounts of the substance without burning a hole through their pockets. Americans in the early 1800s didn’t drink alcohol in addition to what we would consider a “normal” beverage. They instead, engulfed alcohol in replacement of other beverages…and then drank more alcohol! A lot can be said about early America when we examine the other substances available to them at the time. Water, what we think of as the most abundant resource on the planet, was very hard to come by. In truth, the water was there, but the purity of it was not. Milk, on the other hand, was clean, but because of poor transportation and refrigeration methods, could not be widely consumed for fear of contracting an illness.
While we may think that a cleaner, healthier drink alternative would have lowered the total alcohol consumption, there is a drink that was clean and abundant that actually raised the alcohol intake significantly. It was a fruit that eventually led to America’s downfall. One might guess grapes were the key, because of the wine that could be produced, but Rorabaugh reveals that America’s soil did not produce the most appetizing grapes, resulting in a bitter and unattractive wine. Because wine was so scarce, it was a beverage not consumed by the everyday American. Only the elite in society had the access and money to indulge in the foreign substance. Alcohol definitely had a way of categorizing the members of society. The fruit that eventually led America into its largest drunken stupor was in fact the apple. Yes, apples were the key to Americans’ downfall in the early 19th century. Unlike grapes, America was good at growing delicious apples, and soon apple cider had found its place on every dining room table. Of course, America was so liquor crazed that it soon was mixing rum and whiskey into the cider, transforming the once pure substance into a liquid of social upheaval.
William Rorabaugh makes it very evident that America was a drunken nation for much of it’s early decades, but what exactly caused this nation to turn away from its excessive drunken habits? The effects of alcohol could be seen all across America. The violence and crime that broke out had direct correlations to the alcohol consumption level. People had been advocating against alcohol in America since its conception, but the effects of their aversion weren’t widely seen until the early 19th century. By mid-century, prohibition laws had already been enacted in most of the Eastern states, but the alcohol decline didn’t decrease dramatically until Abraham Lincoln stamped a tax on all liquor and beer to help pay for the debt caused by the Civil War.
It is almost embarrassing to read this history about America because Americans were so literally drunk with blindness that they couldn’t see the grave that they were digging for themselves. While Rorabaugh spends much of the book discussing the technicalities that made America a drunken nation, he emphasizes that America, being a new nation, pushed all its limits, acknowledging that the American lifestyle was a result of American mindset and social norms. He continuously tries to bridge the gap between alcohol and society, until both are seen as intertwined. While “The Alcoholic Republic” may appear to be drilling synonymous information into its reader’s mind, the information presented is relevant not only by revealing the not-so-pleasant history of America, but also as a means of uncovering the motives that drive many societies, and the ways in which humanity’s obsessions unfold.
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