That Funky Cold Madeira

[4est_4est_Gump]

George Washington was fond of Madeira. So was Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall. A 1772 inventory from Monticello tells us that in his wine cellar Thomas Jefferson had 44 gallons of Madeira. But the most entertaining link between Madeira and a Founding Father involves John Hancock.

By the 1760s, Hancock was the wealthiest man in Massachusetts. He increased his fortune the old-fashioned way — by smuggling. In the years before the Revolution, Boston was a great trading hub that did about £20 million of business annually. Naturally, the British wanted to collect customs duties on goods imported by Boston merchants. Understandably, Boston merchants such as Hancock didn’t want to pay them. There was a simple solution to this commercial quandary: in exchange for a bribe, customs officials under-recorded a ship’s cargo.

https://spectator.org/a-new-jersey-college-has-just-discovered-the-governors-stash/

 

[Lancecastor]

Not supporting absentee governments by avoiding the payment of sales tax has always been accepted behavior amongst business people along the east coast of north america.

 

[Lancecastor]

And most politicians are rich; many before taking office, the rest get there by dint of the office.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Yes, dynasties are erected upon the corruption.