21. Average Alcohol Consumption for Americans Used to be Seven Gallons of Pure Alcohol a Year
In towns and cities, it was commonly understood and accepted that most workers would not show up for work on Mondays, because they were too hungover from a weekend bender. In the countryside, Johnny Appleseed had scattered seeds in Indiana and Ohio that produced apples that were quite inedible. When fermented, however, they were quite drinkable as hard cider. There were at least fourteen thousand distilleries in America by 1810, and they were hardly able to keep up with the demand. By 1830, American adults consumed an average of seven gallons of pure alcohol per year. Seven gallons of pure alcohol is a lot of booze. It is the equivalent of 1.7 bottles of 80 proof liquor per American adult – male or female – per week, or about 90 bottles per year.
Considering that millions did not drink, the alcohol consumption of Americans who actually drank was significantly higher than the national average for all adults. With much of the country tipsy all the time or just about, social reformers sought solutions to the scourge of widespread alcohol abuse. Thus was born the temperance movement. However, when the movement first began, “temperance” did not initially carry the same meaning that it eventually would, and still does today. For example, Philadelphia physician Benjamin Rush, a Declaration of Independence signer, a friend of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, and an early temperance advocate, sought to wean drinkers off the booze with an intermediate beverage. So he urged whiskey guzzlers to drink instead what he deemed to be a less harmful alternative: wine, mixed with opium and laudanum.
Related: The United States Government Killed Thousands During Prohibition.