How to Guarantee an Election Victory

There is a great article recently published in American Heritage magazine that attempts to examine what the Founding Fathers would do concerning modern day political issues. The article covers the death penalty, gun control, the “war” on drugs, and terrorism among other issues. One of the more interesting facts in the article is the following revelation about George Washington:

“When George Washington ran for the Virginia House of Burgesses, he treated voters to drinks. (This was illegal but universally practiced.) The Washington campaign served 28 gallons of rum, 50 gallons of rum punch, 38 gallons of wine, 46 gallons of beer, and 2 gallons of cider, no doubt hard, for a total of 164 gallons of alcohol. There were 396 voters. Washington won.”

As an avid drinker of hard cider I was quite happy to see it on George Washington’s list.