Taverns: Where Democracy And History Were Brewed

This article published by Berkshire Eagle is by Carole Owens. Here is an excerpt: Top of Form

Good reputation or bad, between 1761 and 1797, in taverns from Virginia to Massachusetts, democracy was shaped, the Revolutionary War was envisioned and prosecuted, oaths were taken, spies huddled and, finally, the Constitution was first written and later read aloud to the new citizens. Taverns were the soul of the American Revolution.

There were many reasons, but three stand out. For one thing, our founding fathers were brewers, distillers and taverners. Daniel Webster called the Green Dragon “the headquarters of the revolution.”

Second, the first post offices were the taverns. One 18thcentury Stockbridge resident asked a traveler to carry his letter and put it on the mantel of a certain tavern in New Jersey. From there his son, a student at Princeton, would collect it. Stagecoaches brought the newspapers, too, and left them in taverns. Like the liquor, newspapers were to be read there, never carried out.

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