Stanton Peele Asks if George Washington Was an Alcoholic By Modern Standards

George Washington’s alcohol consumption was, at
times, prodigious. That consumption by Washington and his fellow
founding fathers has been whitewashed—literally—from American
history by the intervening Temperance movement, whose effects still
drive us. For instance, the classic picture of Washington taking
his farewell from his troops at Fraunces Tavern in New York—which,
of course, involved a toast—was painted with a serving flask
clearly visible. This container was painted out of these same
pictures later in the nineteenth century, reminiscent of Soviet
photos with purged former leaders excised. As Stanton Peele points
out, for our ancestors, getting drunk—but not losing control—was
simply socially accepted.

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