"Owed to New York"

[Sandra Levine]

excerpt from

"Owed to New York"

by Byron Rufus Newton, 1906

"Crazed with avarice, lust and rum

New York, thy name's delirium."

The entire poem can be found in Best-Loved Poems of the American People ed., Felleman, 1936. or at  http://www.potw.org/archive/potw215.html

(Edited by Sandra Levine at 9:09 pm on Jan. 21, 2002)

[Bolivar Petit Corona]

Thanks for the post, Sandra.  I think in the old days, rum was made in New England.

[Ed Hamilton]

At the time of the American Revolution there were over 40 distilleries in the Boston area alone, Philadelphia was home to more than a dozen. The molasses act, 1774, was one of the reasons that the colonists brought arms against unfair taxation. The Boston tea party wasn't nearly as much about tea as it was the molasses that was so important to the economy of the new colonies.

George Washington ordered a barrel of the finest aged Barbados rum for his inaguaration party.

[Bolivar Petit Corona]

Thanks, Ed, very interesting.