Did you know that Abraham Lincoln was a tavern owner?
Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County Kentucky on February 12, 1809. His father, Thomas, was a cooper and carpenter. In 1816, his father sold his farm for 10 barrels of whiskey and $20 and moved his family to Indiana. In 1830, when Lincoln was 21, they moved again to Decatur, Illinois.
Around 1833, Lincoln, William Berry and Joe Bowling Green opened a tavern in New Salem, Illinois. Berry said of Lincoln, ” he did work the latter part of one winter in a little still house, up at the head of a hollow.” They charged 1 bit for a whiskey (a common coin at the time was the Spanish bit worth 12 1/2 cents. 2 bits was 25 cents).
Lincoln’s exposure to liquor as a tavern keeper may have had an effect on his thoughts on whiskey and drinking. At a speech he gave to the Washington Temperance Society in Springfield, Illinois on February 22nd, 1842, he expressed his thoughts on the matter:
“But I have said that denunciations against dram-sellers and dram-drinkers are unjust as well as impolitic.” Liquor “was every where a respectable article of manufacture and merchandise. The making of it was regarded as an honorable livelihood; and he who could make most, was the most enterprising and respectable.” When describing drunkenness, he explained, “It is true, that even then, it was known and acknowledged, that many were greatly injured by (liquor); but none seemed to think the injury arose from the use of a bad thing, but from the abuse of a very good thing.” (Abraham Lincoln)
To read the full address, click HERE.