Whiskey in Virginia in the 1860's

There's a lot of history and 'lore' behind bourbon so discuss both here.

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Unread postby gillmang » Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:54 pm

I think America has combined so far the best of the rural and urban traditions. Each seems to condition and modify the more negative tendencies of the other. The 1960's exhibited this with its ideas of return to nature and the greening movement in general (which has powerful echos to this day). Rural-based notions where potentially damaging to the common weal or individual rights tend to find limits in the form of the Constitution, the Courts, the media, and other forces. I think what happened in other countries is quite different due to their different histories and ethnic make-up (e.g., the latter was much more uniform in Europe in the period Chuck mentioned than it ever was in America even at the beginning).

There is a zeitgeist of course at any time in world history - indeed more than one, often competing - and versions are picked up here and there, with some extreme tendencies represented anywhere (e.g. in the 1930's in the U.S. Father Coughlin, some of Charles Lindbergh's views before the war, etc.) but I think America is different fundamentally from other places. It is such a big country and there are so many competing interests and regions that a kind of compromise seems to emerge on the key issues. Perhaps Prohibition, which we were talking about latterly, was an exception, but not really. It was only fitfully enforced and lasted only fifteen years on a nation-wide basis.

Gary
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Unread postby bourbonv » Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:17 pm

In the early 19th century the nation as a whole had a religous "Great Awakening". It was strongest in the new American West and the South. The rural people would come together in great "Camp Meets" and listen to preachers of many different sects. The Baptist and the Methodist soon became the most popular with many conversions. They also became more diverse with southern branchs of both sects forming in that period.

Out of these "Camp Meets" there arose three great "crusades" or causes. These were Temperance, Women's Sufferage and Abolition of slavery. For obvious reasons the last was most popular in the north, but there were southern abolitionist as well. The first half of the century saw the energies concentrated on abolition. The second half the efforts turned to temperance and finally women's sufferage. All three goals were achieved eventually, but if these causes had stayed simply religious causes, then they would have all failed.

In all three cases, it was politicians that brought about the changes needed for the cause to succeed. All three causes involved changing the constitution to achieve the goal. The big difference in the three causes is that the "temperance movement" was the only one that took away individual freedom instead of guaranteeing a freedom. It is the admendment in the constitution that limits freedom instead of guaranteeing a right or freedom and it is the only admendment to be repealed. There is a reason that the first group of admendments is called the "Bill of Rights". The founding fathers were aware that government can take away individual freedoms and become oppresive. The promise of a "Bill of Rights" was the only way many people would endorse the constitution.

In many ways the roles have switched for rural and urban America. I think that is probably because of the switch in political power. In the 19th century it was the rural people who wanted to limit freedoms for those living in the cities. This was to preserve their power. In modern society, with many people of money fleeing the city to more rural places, the big city power bases are looking to limit freedoms to preserve their power. It is the same struggle and that is the struggle for who will pull the nation's strings of power. You even see the same type of struggles with the movement to prohibit tobacco. The prohibitionist are using the same methods and arguments that placed the 18th admendment into law to prohibit tobacco. The scarey thing is they are also after alcohol as well. They just are not as open about it. You never read an article about banning tobacco without someone pointing a finger at alcohol as a dangerous substance that kills people.

Nazi and communist philosphies are not all that far apart because they both call for a strong, central government that will control people's actions "for their own good". Both should be regulated to the fringes of society and not allowed to take root.
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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