Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Washington operated one of the largest distilleries in America at its time.
Towards the end of his life, Washington established a rye and corn whiskey distillery on his Dogue Run farm. In 1799, the year of Washington’s death, the distillery produced 10,942 gallons of whiskey – thereby making it one of the largest distillery in America at the time. Washington also was the only founding father to own and operate his own whiskey distillery.
Washington operated one of the largest distilleries in America at its time.
Towards the end of his life, Washington established a rye and corn whiskey distillery on his Dogue Run farm. In 1799, the year of Washington’s death, the distillery produced 10,942 gallons of whiskey – thereby making it one of the largest distillery in America at the time. Washington also was the only founding father to own and operate his own whiskey distillery.
Interesting. I wonder how that factored into the so called "Whiskey Rebellion" in 1791, which was actually under his administration.
Not a factor since the Whiskey Rebellion was a tax rebellion. As a odd note in history, this was the only time a US President lead an army in the field as president.
Unlike Jefferson, George Washington knew how to make the plantation system profitable. He made sure all his slaves had a trade-cooper, farrier, distiller, carpenter, whatever. He also didn't really buy anything that wouldn't, in some way, add to the worth of his holdings, although he did have a weakness for wines and gambling (which he was notoriously bad at, at least cards).
I'll amend a bit what I said about Jefferson: he probably knew how to make it pay but didn't have the self-discipline to do it. He wasn't a dumb man (obviously) but he was profligate in his spending.
Washington was a product of his time. Like most Virginian's he gambled, drank, loved to dance (a social, recreational and political event) and had a sense of humor:
Washington operated one of the largest distilleries in America at its time.
Towards the end of his life, Washington established a rye and corn whiskey distillery on his Dogue Run farm. In 1799, the year of Washington’s death, the distillery produced 10,942 gallons of whiskey – thereby making it one of the largest distillery in America at the time. Washington also was the only founding father to own and operate his own whiskey distillery.
Good point dizzybint!
Whiskey Rebellion
This was a long and detailed description/explanations so...
The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington, ultimately under the command of American Revolutionary war veteran Major James McFarlane.
Washington operated one of the largest distilleries in America at its time.
Towards the end of his life, Washington established a rye and corn whiskey distillery on his Dogue Run farm. In 1799, the year of Washington’s death, the distillery produced 10,942 gallons of whiskey – thereby making it one of the largest distillery in America at the time. Washington also was the only founding father to own and operate his own whiskey distillery.
Just to point out, you can actually (or could pre corona virus/Covid-19)visit his distillery the next time you are in the D.C. area.
Unlike Jefferson, George Washington knew how to make the plantation system profitable. He made sure all his slaves had a trade-cooper, farrier, distiller, carpenter, whatever. He also didn't really buy anything that wouldn't, in some way, add to the worth of his holdings, although he did have a weakness for wines and gambling (which he was notoriously bad at, at least cards).
I'll amend a bit what I said about Jefferson: he probably knew how to make it pay but didn't have the self-discipline to do it. He wasn't a dumb man (obviously) but he was profligate in his spending.
Uh...well..not sure where to begin. First off don't take this as an attack on you. But it depends on what you mean by making the plantation system profitable. The Distillery essentially saved his fiscal butt in the later years Before that his true cash crop was, of all things, trading in salted smelts that they caught in the Potomac.
Washington, Adams (who never owned slaves), and Jefferson all shared a similar vision about plantations, one point being, they did not want to rely on tobacco(they linked tobacco growing with slavery, something none of them viewed positively so they moved away from it). Then without the definitive cash crop(albeit one that depleted the soil)they were forced to explore other ways of making the land pay.
Although Washington was among the richest man of his times, his holdings were always struggling. For one, like Jefferson and Adams Washington was fascinated by manures and soil building. It was so important to him, he refused to lease his lands to farmers who would not commit to building the soil. In their time, this was a new concept and experimental. Hence Washington cut his rate in order to get tenant farmers who would use the new methods as he instructed. As a result Washington was able to extend his testing, but it came at the large cost of reduced lease rates.
Part of the issue was the same one Jefferson and Adams faced, they were Patriots first and foremost, trying to grow a nation and all three saw the United States as agrarian exporter to the world, which means they needed to find export crops(up until then most of out trade balance was paid in the form of export of Newtown Pippin (aka Albermarle Pippin). So all three, at great expense, imported plants and seeds from abroad and from all parts of their new nation and trialed them as cash crops.
In a practical sense this means expending a lot of man hours in experiments, on vast tracks of land, trying to grow new crops, and harvesting. storing, and refining the crops. It was horribly inefficient, required outlandish supervision, copious note taking and was simply very, very expensive. You can contrast this with Andrew Jackson, who ran his plantations profitably. Jackson focused on what made him money, not how other farmers and the nation as a whole might benefit from him expending his wealth on agriculture experiments that would net him nothing. And that is not a slam on Jackson, he was simply not the hands in the soil dirt farmer Washington, Jefferson, and Adams were. For those who do not know, one of Adams greatest joys was turning over his manure piles and spreading manure. Washington went to far as to build a covered shelter in order to exert more control over his manure experiments.
I hope that fills in a few blanks for some people.
Cheers....
Last edited by mensaguy; 11-24-2020 at 07:50 AM..
Reason: Corrected the virus name.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
