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Posted on 10/12/2002 8:15:28 AM PDT by vannrox
WASHINGTON - Get ready to meet a new George Washington. Commander of the Continental Army? Check. First president? Got it. One of America's leading liquor producers? For many Americans, that's a new one. Washington's distillery at Mount Vernon on the Potomac River's Virginia bank, south of the capital, poured out 11,000 gallons a year at its peak, according to plantation records. At the time, the average distillery produced less than 1,000 gallons annually. Washington's booze - mostly corn and rye whiskey and fruit brandy - was one of his plantation's biggest moneymakers. Now, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, which owns and operates the estate, is rebuilding the long-destroyed stills. It wants to introduce Americans to a different side of Washington - George Washington, distiller. "This is a very important part of Washington's story," said Esther White, director of archaeology at Mount Vernon. "He was a good businessman. And it's an important part of 18th-century life." Washington got into the liquor business in 1797, after a new plantation manager persuaded the recently retired president that he could make a lot of money at it, said Dennis Pogue, associate director of preservation at Mount Vernon. A first, small batch was so successful that Washington built a large distillery, featuring five stills and a staff of eight, on the plantation grounds. It opened in 1798. The product was an instant hit, although nobody knows how much Washington's popularity had to do with it. The distillery fell into disuse and was torn down by 1815. In the early 1930s, restorers rebuilt the gristmill that once stood near it, but not the distillery. "It was prohibition; it was the Depression," White said. "Washington and alcohol wasn't exactly the story people wanted to spin." But as time has passed, details of Washington's own story have dimmed, Mount Vernon officials noted. "In the last 15 years, there's been a growing recognition that people are losing touch with George Washington," Pogue said. "That's a real shame. He's the American hero. One way to address that is to expand our interpretation into areas that people didn't know about." A new program at Mount Vernon, called "To Keep Him First," will burnish Washington's record as a military and political leader. It also will highlight his acumen as a farmer and businessman. "If people hear more about that, the appreciation will be natural," Pogue said. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a Washington-based trade association of liquor manufacturers, has pledged $1.2 million to pay for the distillery's reconstruction. A fund-raising dinner Tuesday night raised more than $120,000. "Wine's done a good job with its heritage," said Peter Cressy, president of the council. "Scotch has, too. We have a very colorful and interesting heritage in the United States. It was a terrific way for us to support a good cause and show the heritage of our industry." Mount Vernon officials hope to have the distillery rebuilt by 2006. So far, White's team of archaeologists has excavated parts of the foundation and floors of the original building, as well as some drainage areas. It's unknown how much Washington enjoyed his own liquor. He was a light drinker, known to enjoy rum and fortified wines such as port and Madeira. He seemed more interested in the practical aspects of the liquor business, Pogue said: As a businessman, whiskey made him money. And as a politician, it got him votes. At Virginia polling places, it was customary for politicians to treat voters to liquor. Washington once lost a campaign where he didn't do so, Pogue said. "From then on, he always treated," Pogue said. "And he always won."
Posted on Tue, Oct. 08, 2002
Archaeologists unearthing distillery in George Washington's home
Knight Ridder Newspapers
My guess is that the globalist, portfolio-patriot, country-club RINOs are doing their absolute best to avoid and ignore this connection.
The Spirit of George Washington, in a Letter Loaned by Distillery Group
By DELIA M. RIOS
c.2001 Newhouse News ServiceWASHINGTON -- George Washington's distillery was no mere backyard hobby.
In 1799, Washington showed a profit of $7,500 for 11,000 gallons of whiskey made from corn and rye -- worth up to $500,000 on today's retail market and making his one of the largest distillery operations in 18th century America.
And just six weeks before he died, he wrote to a nephew that "demand for this article (in these parts) is brisk."
The letter, sent from Mount Vernon, went back to Washington's Virginia home Tuesday, on permanent loan from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, which represents most of the country's producers and marketers of distilled spirits. It will be a critical piece of an ongoing effort to better understand Washington through his whiskey-making business.
Earlier this year, the industry pledged $1.2 million to Mount Vernon for the reconstruction of Washington's distillery and educational exhibits on the Dogue Creek site, 2.7 miles from Washington's mansion house. The Smithsonian Institution will loan what is thought to be one of Washington's original copper stills.
The letter -- acquired by the council for $18,000 from Christie's, the New York auction house -- is one of a very few in which Washington discusses his distillery business, and Mount Vernon officials worried that it "might not come our way again," said Executive Director James Rees.
Plans are to display the letter, although officials do not yet know when.
In 1797, when Washington built his distillery, he had just completed a second term as president.
"He was quote `in retirement,"' Rees said.
"In the 18th century," he added, "Washington was not just the most powerful leader in America, but the most fascinating."
It's a point that Mount Vernon officials labor to impress upon the nation today. While Americans may recognize the face, surveys show they too often know little about the man behind it, Rees said.
The restless, curious, meticulous man who led the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, presided over the Constitutional Convention and served the nation as its first president is evident in every line of the letter.
"Washington, in anything he undertook, went about it in the very best and exemplary manner -- it was part of his character," said Phil Chase, editor of The Papers of George Washington project at the University of Virginia. Editors there are just starting to work on Washington's financial accounts, including his distillery books.
"He knew that people observed what he did and why he did it, and that certainly was true in agriculture and business as well as in the military and politics," Chase said.
Washington was, as Rees said, "a sensational entrepreneur."
The distillery business was but one of several. In a six-week period of a single spring, Washington's workers, primarily slaves, brought in 1.3 million shad and herring which were salted and distributed throughout the country; he owned 70,000 acres of land in what is now seven states; he had a gristmill, and wheat was among his strongest cash crops.
The letter to Washington's nephew, William Augustine Washington, is addressed "My Dear Sir" and signed "Your Affectionate Uncle." It reads, in part:
"Two hundred gallons of Whiskey will be ready this day for your call, and the sooner it is taken the better. ... The Rye may be sent when it suits your convenience -- letting me know, in the meantime, the quantity I may rely on, that my purchase of this grain may be regulated thereby."
His interest in whiskey as a money-making venture notwithstanding, Washington was critical of those who drank to excess. That is partly why the distilled spirits council was eager to come to Mount Vernon's aid, said Peter H. Cressy, the group's president and CEO.
"He vocalized the importance of moderation, and as a regulated industry we've always been conscious of that," Cressy said.
In fact, President Washington issued blunt statements on the subject. Of particular note are his evaluations of former Revolutionary War officers under consideration to command the U.S. Army, according to an account in "George Washington: A Biographical Companion," by Frank E. Grizzard, which will be published this fall.
Of one such unfortunate officer, Washington wrote that he was "rather addicted to ease and pleasure; and no enemy it is said to the bottle. ... "
Here's a letter where he claims a Mr. Anderson induced him into the business:
George Washington to Robert Lewis, January 26, 1798Mount Vernon, January 26, 1798.
Dear Sir: The return of your brother Howel, affords me a direct and safe opportunity of enquiring whether any, and if any, what money you have of mine in your hands? What are your prospects of collecting the past years Rents, seasonably, and when I may look for the receipt of them?
I have been induced, by the experience and advice of my Manager, Mr. Anderson, to erect a large Distillery at my Mill; and have supplied it with five Stills, Boilers &ca. which, with the (Stone) House, has cost me a considerable Sum already, but I find these expenditures are but a small part of the advances I must make before I shall receive any return for them, having all my Grain yet to buy to carry on the business. To accomplish this, all my resources are needed, and I beg you to exert yourself in the collection of my Rents, and that you would let me know, upon the best data you can form an opinion, what dependence I may place on you; not only as to the amount of the sum, but also as to the period of its payment, that I may regulate matters accordingly.
As a Rental, according to former Instructions, should be annually exhibited, in order to show, not only what has been received, but the arrearages, if any at the sametime, in one view, that by a referrence thereto I can always see the state and condition of each tenement. I must now add, as a further Instruction, that all casualties, such as the exchanging of Tenants, Increase, or decrease of Rents, etc. etc., may be specifically noted at the foot of the Rental; Which is considered always as a kind of Record of the Collectors proceedings. Columns in which, for the size of the tenements, Sums paid, and the arrearages due, you know are necessary.
Mrs. W. and Nelly Custis unites in best wishes with Your etc.
Also posted here.
That tax was passed by Congress, not by George Washington.
As President, Washington's job was to enforce all the laws, not pick and choose.
There is no evidence that the small stills up north cut into profits on distribution of Washington's product in the south or that he enforced the whiskey tax for any reason other than his clear obligation to do so.
The Whiskey Rebellion
BY AUTHORITYBy the president of the United States of America
A PROCLAMATION
Whereas, combinations to defeat the execution of the laws laying duties upon spirits distilled within the United States and upon stills have from the time of the commencement of those laws existed in some of the western parts of Pennsylvania.
And whereas, the said combinations, proceeding in a manner subversive equally of the just authority of government and of the rights of individuals, have hitherto effected their dangerous and criminal purpose by the influence of certain irregular meetings whose proceedings have tended to encourage and uphold the spirit of opposition by misrepresentations of the laws calculated to render them odious; by endeavors to deter those who might be so disposed from accepting offices under them through fear of public resentment and of injury to person and property, and to compel those who had accepted such offices by actual violence to surrender or forbear the execution of them; by circulation vindictive menaces against all those who should otherwise, directly or indirectly, aid in the execution of the said laws, or who, yielding to the dictates of conscience and to a sense of obligation, should themselves comply therewith; by actually injuring and destroying the property of persons who were understood to have so complied; by inflicting cruel and humiliating punishments upon private citizens for no other cause than that of appearing to be the friends of the laws; by intercepting the public officers on the highways, abusing, assaulting, and otherwise ill treating them; by going into their houses in the night, gaining admittance by force, taking away their papers, and committing other outrages, employing for these unwarrantable purposes the agency of armed banditti disguised in such manner as for the most part to escape discovery;
And whereas, the endeavors of the legislature to obviate objections to the said laws by lowering the duties and by other alterations conducive to the convenience of those whom they immediately affect (though they have given satisfaction in other quarters), and the endeavors of the executive officers to conciliate a compliance with the laws by explanations, by forbearance, and even by particular accommodations founded on the suggestion of local considerations, have been disappointed of their effect by the machinations of persons whose industry to excite resistance has increased with every appearance of a disposition among the people to relax in their opposition and to acquiesce in the laws, insomuch that many persons in the said western parts of Pennsylvania have at length been hardy enough to perpetrate acts, which I am advised amount to treason, being overt acts of levying war against the United States, the said persons having on the 16th and 17th of July last past proceeded in arms (on the second day amounting to several hundreds) to the house of John Neville, inspector of the revenue for the fourth survey of the district of Pennsylvania; having repeatedly attacked the said house with the persons therein, wounding some of them; having seized David Lenox, marshal of the district of Pennsylvania, who previous thereto had been fired upon while in the execution of his duty by a party of armed men, detaining him for some time prisoner, till, for the preservation of his life and the obtaining of his liberty, he found it necessary to enter into stipulations to forbear the execution of certain official duties touching processes issuing out of a court of the United States; and having finally obliged the said inspector of the revenue and the said marshal from considerations of personal safety to fly from that part of the country, in order, by a circuitous route, to proceed to the seat of government, avowing as the motives of these outrageous proceedings an intention to prevent by force of arms the execution of the said laws, to oblige the said inspector of the revenue to renounce his said office, to withstand by open violence the lawful authority of the government of the United States, and to compel thereby an alteration in the measures of the legislature and a repeal of the laws aforesaid;
And whereas, by a law of the United States entitled "An act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions," it is enacted that whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed or the execution thereof obstructed in any state by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshals by that act, the same being notified by an associate justice or the district judge, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia of such state to suppress such combinations and to cause the laws to be duly executed. And if the militia of a state, when such combinations may happen, shall refuse or be insufficient to suppress the same, it shall be lawful for the President, if the legislature of the United States shall not be in session, to call forth and employ such numbers of the militia of any other state or states most convenient thereto as may be necessary; and the use of the militia so to be called forth may be continued, if necessary, until the expiration of thirty days after the commencement of the of the ensuing session; Provided always, that, whenever it may be necessary in the judgment of the President to use the military force hereby directed to be called forth, the President shall forthwith, and previous thereto, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within a limited time;
And whereas, James Wilson, an associate justice, on the 4th instant, by writing under his hand, did from evidence which had been laid before him notify to me that "in the counties of Washington and Allegany, in Pennsylvania, laws of the United States are opposed and the execution thereof obstructed by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshal of that district";
And whereas, it is in my judgment necessary under the circumstances of the case to take measures for calling forth the militia in order to suppress the combinations aforesaid, and to cause the laws to be duly executed; and I have accordingly determined so to do, feeling the deepest regret for the occasion, but withal the most solemn conviction that the essential interests of the Union demand it, that the very existence of government and the fundamental principles of social order are materially involved in the issue, and that the patriotism and firmness of all good citizens are seriously called upon, as occasions may require, to aid in the effectual suppression of so fatal a spirit;
Therefore, and in pursuance of the proviso above recited, I. George Washington, President of the United States, do hereby command all persons, being insurgents, as aforesaid, and all others whom it may concern, on or before the 1st day of September next to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes. And I do moreover warn all persons whomsoever against aiding, abetting, or comforting the perpetrators of the aforesaid treasonable acts; and do require all officers and other citizens, according to their respective duties and the laws of the land, to exert their utmost endeavors to prevent and suppress such dangerous proceedings.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand. Done at the city of Philadelphia the seventh day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four, and of the independence of the United States of America the nineteenth.
G. WASHINGTON,
By the President,
Edm. Randolph
Source: Claypoole's Daily Advertiser, August 11, 1794
No fooling, Gunga Din.
Why do you ignore that Washington signed it into law rather than vetoing it?
The main distortion of the Official View of the Whiskey Rebellion was its alleged confinement to four counties of western Pennsylvania. From recent research, we now know that no one paid the tax on whiskey throughout the American "back-country": that is, the frontier areas of Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and the entire state of Kentucky.
President Washington and Secretary Hamilton chose to make a fuss about Western Pennsylvania precisely because in that region there was cadre of wealthy officials who were willing to collect taxes. Such a cadre did not even exist in the other areas of the American frontier; there was no fuss or violence against tax collectors in Kentucky and the rest of the back-country because there was no one willing to be a tax collector.
Another realist emerges. I prefer Debt-servant myself.
Imo the article sheds new light on the Whiskey Rebellion. And I'd expect George was distilling a bit earlier than 1797.
Well Hamilton sure as heck wasn't concerned about clearing the National Debt.
Hamilton regarded the national debt as actually being a national blessing because he felt it would strengthen the bond between society and their government. The more creditors to whom the government owed money, the more people there would be with a personal stake in the success of his ambitious enterprise. In other words, there would be more people getting involved in the government. These people would be happy to loan the government some money to pay off the national debt. (Which included the state debts) The national debt made society unite with the government. Instead of the national debt hurting the government, it ended up cementing the union. They were working together to pay off the national debt.
Hamilton was nutz.
It was Jefferson's tax policy that paid off the debt and facilitated independence, westward expansion and growth (Louisiana Purchase).
"The prohibiting duties we lay on all articles of foreign manufacture which prudence requires us to establish at home, with the patriotic determination of every good citizen to use no foreign article which can be made within ourselves without regard to difference of price, secures us against a relapse into foreign dependency."
--Thomas Jefferson to Jean Baptiste Say, 1815.
"And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."-- Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, May 28, 1816
"I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom. And to preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude."--Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816
From the office of the curator, US Department of the Treasury--
Here is the link.
A genius in his own time!
He was the Founding Father, make no mistake about it.
OK, OK, Thomas Jefferson was the Founding Brother.
"Hamilton was nutz."
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