I hope you won’t mind me indulging my fascination for all things ancient. When I read about the American Revolution and that time period, I find interesting not only the “big, important” events, but the little, miscellaneous, everyday things that give me a glimpse into what life was really like and what those people thought. For example, in the Virginia Gazette of February 25, 1773, the front-page article was an “Essay on the Utility of VINE PLANTING in Virginia.”
The writer was trying to convince people that it would be good to plant more vineyards and produce more wine in Virginia, rather than importing wine from elsewhere. I guess there had been some bills in the legislature about promoting vineyards, or something along those lines, and he supported them. Some of his arguments seem reasonable, though I’m not an expert on viticulture (had to look that word up), but I think he took it a bit far when he said:
The Cultivation of the Vine should be the Aim of our most serious Counsels and active Industry. Will it cause an Expense? I am willing to pay my Proportion, sure to be rewarded a Thousand Fold in the Good that will befall either myself, my Children, my Fellow Citizens, or all together. If you are of a different Opinion, consider yourself as liable to be mistaken. You may be right, perhaps; but if you prevent a Measure actually prudent and beneficial, and in the Degree suggested, consider whether the Birth of any Mortal was more pernicious to his Country than yours to your Country.
That’s a little bit intense for talking about vineyards, if you ask me. I don’t think that producing wine was the most important thing for Virginia at the time, or that preventing it was the worst possible thing a Virginian could do to his country — but hey, what do I know? I didn’t even know the word “viticulture” before I started writing this…