Booze and the Founders

Stanton Peele in Reason Magazine:

It is impossible for Americans to accept the extent to which the Colonial period—including our most sacred political events—was suffused with alcohol...

Indeed, we still have available the bar tab from a 1787 farewell party in Philadelphia for George Washington just days before the framers signed off on the Constitution. According to the bill preserved from the evening, the 55 attendees drank 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, eight of whiskey, 22 of porter, eight of hard cider, 12 of beer, and seven bowls of alcoholic punch.

Most folks today would indeed Founder if they drank that much.

But then, maybe our problems in Washington stem from the Puritanical Politicians drinking way too little...