In Tom Standage’s A History of the World in 6 Glasses, he argues that it is possible to divide history into periods characterized by certain drinks: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola. He believes that these drinks represent different time periods, as the Bronze Age is represented by bronze, or the Iron Age by iron. Standage provides ample evidence to prove his argument that drinks can be used to split history into periods because they were vital in shaping world politics, economics, and society. These drinks had a large impact on social gatherings and interactions of the time period. In Mesopotamia, beer was a social drink that brought people together. Early depictions of beer in Sumerian culture show multiple people drinking …show more content…
While there was no formal legislation in the period of beer and wine, the time of spirits introduced new laws. Alexander Hamilton enforced a federal tax on the production of distilled drinks as an attempt to relieve national debt (Standage, 123). This caused tension between state and national government powers and eventually led to the whiskey rebellion, where people refused to pay taxes and as a result federal marshals were sent to serve writs, which ended in violence. The tax law and rebellion were important because the outcome shows citizens that federal law should be taken seriously. Standage even calls the rebellion “a defining moment” in American history (Standage, 126). Whiskey played an important role in the legislation and federal government because without the rebellion of the tax, national laws may never have been taken seriously and enforced. This fact indicates the ways in which whiskey shaped legislation and was therefore important in defining the time …show more content…
Tea was the main item of trade by the mid 1720s and Standage writes, “as a result, control of the tea trade granted the company an enormous degree of political influence” (Standage, 192). The British were able to have laws passed in its favor as well as control trade of the area. The political power Britain accumulated as a result of tea allowed them “both direct and indirect influence over the policies of the most powerful nation on Earth,” and an example of this control is the tea policy and taxes in early America (Standage, 203). Settlers in America relied on smuggling tea into the country to avoid Britain’s heavy taxes. The Tea Act of 1773 was put into place, which was a governmental loan to pay off debts and provided Americans the right to ship tea directly to America from China. However, Americans were unhappy with this piece of legislation; they wanted to be able to trade freely without interference from Britain. So, they boycotted British goods and dumped 342 barrels of tea into the water one night. This debacle was one of the first steps in American independence from Great Britain. Tea played an important role in both building up political power in Europe as well as tearing it down in America. Standage distinctly illustrates the importance of tea in shaping political powers