RUM
& THE INDIANS

William Penn's Great Law: 

"And whereas divers Persons as English Dutch Sweeds &ct have been wont to Sell to the Indians Rum and Brandy and Such Like Distilled Spirrits though they know the Said Indians are not able to Govern themselves in the use their of but do commonly drinke of it to Such Excess as makes them Sometimes to Destroy one another and Grievously anoy and disquiet the People of this Province, ...if any one shall offend therein the Person Convicted thereof Shall for Every Such offence pay five pounds."

Sales of rum to the Indians in Pennsylvania had been a problem, and prohibited under penalty of law, since 1682.  Yet laws on the frontier were often honored only in the breach.  Such has to be the assessment after reviewing the entries within Nicholas Dupui's general store ledger pertaining to the sale of rum to Indians.  Examples include:  "To a Quart of Rum for Indian James per order of Daniel," and "To a Quart & pint of Rum for Houpeck the Indian."

Although certain Indians of the period, such as Delaware Chief Teedyuscung, developed a reputation for being in an almost perpetual state of inebriation, especially during treaty negotiations, we have no corroborating evidence from Dupui's ledger to support the contention that natives were drinking to excess.  If one were to hazard a guess (based on the assertion by certain researchers that "most of the rum that traders sold to Indians was one-third water"), Indians were likely less prone to getting thoroughly drunk in social settings than were their colonial counterparts.

While one might think that area Indians were primarily paid in rum, or by way of Indian trader trinkets, Dupui's ledger reveals far too many instances in which they were paid in cash:  "To Cash answered for Indian Arrys," "To Cash paid an Indian per order of father," "To Cash paid Cobus the Indian,"  "To Cash answered for Indian Joe."