When the “Founding Fathers” of the United States weren’t revolting against British rule and formalizing modern democracy, they were doing what under current societal norms would qualify as some very heavy drinking. Of course, as reported by the Huffington Post, this was the situation with most American colonists, not just the ones who ended up making it onto United States currency. The average person living in colonial America drank about seven gallons of alcohol each year; the average modern annual amount is about two gallons. Colonists didn’t have the same relationship with alcohol that modern Americans do. Beer and hard cider were categorized as food items as well as status symbols; only very poor people slaked their daily thirsts with water. Furthermore, the safety of drinking water couldn’t be guaranteed, so it was actually safer to drink alcohol, and so people did, adults and children alike. 

On top of the actual instability of a safe water supply, it was the belief in Great Britain at the time that water in general was bad for one’s health. As most colonists had come to the United States from England, they brought British beliefs and customs with them and continued living them out. Alcohol was considered medicinal for sick people, restorative for old people, and a practical, rather than recreational, part of most people’s daily diets. Per Emeritus Senior Health Consultant for Chestnut Health Systems William L. White in his paper “Early American Alcohol and Tobacco Use,” emigrants from Spain and France brought the custom of drinking wine to the United States.

Alcohol was an intergral part of the colonial American diet

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