1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910457466403321

Autore

Thompson Peter <1960->

Titolo

Rum punch & revolution [[electronic resource] ] : taverngoing & public life in eighteenth-century Philadelphia / / Peter Thompson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia, : University of Pennsylvania Press, c1999

ISBN

1-283-21220-X

9786613212207

0-8122-0428-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (296 p.)

Collana

Early American studies

Disciplina

974.8/1102

Soggetti

Taverns (Inns) - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia - History - 18th century

Political culture - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia - History - 18th century

Electronic books.

Philadelphia (Pa.) History Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775

Philadelphia (Pa.) History Revolution, 1775-1783 Social aspects

Philadelphia (Pa.) Social life and customs

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [249]-256) and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Introduction -- 1. "For Strangers and Workmen" -- 2 "Contrived for Entertainment" -- 3 "Company Divided into Committees". -- 4. "OfGreat Presumption" -- 5 "Counci1s afState" -- Epilogue -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index -- General Index

Sommario/riassunto

'Twas Honest old Noah first planted the VineAnd mended his morals by drinking its Wine.—from a drinking song by Benjamin FranklinThere were, Peter Thompson notes, some one hundred and fifty synonyms for inebriation in common use in colonial Philadelphia and, on the eve of the Revolution, just as many licensed drinking establishments. Clearly, eighteenth-century Philadelphians were drawn to the tavern. In addition to the obvious lure of the liquor, taverns offered overnight accommodations, meals, and stabling for visitors. They also served as places to gossip, gamble, find work, make trades, and gather news.In Rum Punch and Revolution, Thompson shows how the public houses provided a setting in which Philadelphians from all walks of life



revealed their characters and ideas as nowhere else. He takes the reader into the cramped confines of the colonial bar room, describing the friendships, misunderstandings and conflicts which were generated among the city's drinkers and investigates the profitability of running a tavern in a city which, until independence, set maximum prices on the cost of drinks and services in its public houses.Taverngoing, Thompson writes, fostered a sense of citizenship that influenced political debate in colonial Philadelphia and became an issue in the city's revolution. Opinionated and profoundly undeferential, taverngoers did more than drink; they forced their political leaders to consider whether and how public opinion could be represented in the counsels of a newly independent nation.