Jefferson abolished the internal revenue system of liquor taxes and licenses in 1801, so in this sense he was no advocate of the regulation of alcoholic beverages. Yet he did approve of prohibition regulation in Native American communities; in 1801 Chief Little Turtle of the Miami Indians traveled to Washington to ask Jefferson to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages among his people and Jefferson thought this a good idea. Here is the message to Congress advocating prohibition among the Indians: January 27, 1802 Gentlemen of the Senate and the House of Representatives: I lay before you the accounts of our Indian trading houses, as rendered up to the 1st day of January, 1801, with a report of the Secretary of War thereon, explaining the effects and the situation of that commerce and the reasons in favor of its further extension. But it is believed that the act authorizing this trade expired so long ago as the 3d of March, 1799. Its revival, therefore, as well as its extension, is submitted to the consideration of the Legislature. The act regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes will also expire on the 3d day of March next. While on the subject of its continuance it will be worthy the consideration of the Legislature whether the provisions of the law inflicting on Indians, in certain cases, the punishment of death by hanging might not permit its commutation into death by military execution, the form of the punishment in the former way being peculiarly repugnant to their ideas and increasing the obstacles to the surrender of the criminal. These people are becoming very sensible of the baneful effects produced on their morals, their health, and existence by the abuse of ardent spirits, and some of them earnestly desire a prohibition of that article from being carried among them. The Legislature will consider whether the effectuating [of] that desire would not be in the spirit of benevolence and liberality which they have hitherto practiced toward these our neighbors, and which has had so happy an effect toward conciliating their friendship. It has been found, too, in experience that the same abuse gives frequent rise to incidents tending much to commit our peace with the Indians. It is now become necessary to run and mark the boundaries between them and us in various parts. The law last mentioned has authorized this to be done, but no existing appropriation meets the expense. Certain papers explanatory of the grounds of this communication are herewith inclosed. TH: JEFFERSON. I don't know where Conor Cruise O'Brien read that Jefferson opposed the federal regulation of alcoholic beverages among Native Americans. His comments strike me as anachronistic; he seems to attribute a social Darwinism to Jefferson that does not characterize him or any other early American political figure. In the epilogue to his excellent study *Deadly Medicine: Indians and Alcohol in Early America*, Peter Mancall attributes the failure of Native American prohibition efforts to the interests of drinking Indians and colonists who supported the trade. Jefferson clearly supported the expansion of commercial and cultural contact but he was prepared to regulate that contact in the interest of preserving America's "friendship" with Native peoples. Jon P.S. Here is the citation for the Jefferson message: James B. Richardson ed., *A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1908*, vol. 1 (1897; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1909), 334-335. -------------------------------------- Jon Stephen Miller Managing Editor Walt Whitman Quarterly Review Department of English The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1492 [log in to unmask] (319) 335-0592 ======================================