18. The Founding Fathers nearly all used tobacco
Tobacco formed the first cash crop of the British colonies, joining furs and salted fish to provide much of the return to investors in Britain. By the time of the American Revolution, nearly all of the Southern Founding Fathers owed their wealth to tobacco. Yet not all of them smoked tobacco. Nonetheless, tobacco smoking was widespread among the Founders, usually through long clay pipes, which cooled the smoke as it traveled from the bowl to the mouth. George Washington likely did not use tobacco himself, though he tolerated smoking in his home. By the time of the Revolution, wheat had replaced tobacco as his major cash crop.
John Adams and James Madison, as well as the latter’s wife Dolley, smoked tobacco in both pipes and cigars. In the early 19th century, chewing tobacco came into vogue, and both the new Senate Chamber and that of the House of Representatives were equipped with spittoons and ash receptacles. Foreign diplomats and dignitaries expressed dismay at what many called the unhygienic and unhealthy practice of tobacco use. Jefferson appears to have abstained from tobacco. Franklin quit smoking in mid-life. Nonetheless, even the abstainers were subjected to large amounts of secondhand smoke in the taverns, barrooms, homes, and offices of the day, including during the debates of Congress and the Constitutional Convention.