Seven founding fathers who grew and championed hemp

On July 4, 1776 – 247 years ago – the Second Continental Congress unanimously passed the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the separation of the colonies from Great Britain. Many of them not only grew hemp, but also emphasized how important the plant is to the foundation of American agriculture. Digging through rumors about the Founding Fathers and hemp is another story, with made-up quotes and misinformation.

The Declaration’s sweeping claim that “all men are created equal” should be taken with caution given that many Founding Fathers owned slaves, and the slaves of Thomas Jefferson and Henry Clay also grew hemp. It would take much longer for actual equality to materialize.

In the colonial era, hemp was an acceptable form of tax payment for over 150 years. Here are the top founding fathers who grew, milled, processed, or championed hemp.

george washington

MountVernon.org, the estate of George Washington, admits that it grew hemp extensively and compared it to tobacco. “Throughout his life, George Washington cultivated hemp for industrial purposes at Mount Vernon,” writes Mount Vernon. “The fibers from hemp had excellent properties for making rope and canvas. In addition, hemp fibers could be spun into thread for clothing or, as the Mount Vernon records show, used to repair the large seine that Washington used in its Potomac fisheries.”

Nearly half a million Americans die from tobacco-related diseases each year, but it is powerful to think that this could have been avoided had Washington had its way. “Sometime in the 1760s, Washington considered whether hemp would be a more lucrative source of income than tobacco, but concluded that wheat was a better alternative.” Today, scientists can review George Washington’s detailed growth log.

Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson’s hemp farm was vast and he hired slaves to grow it. “Enslaved workers grew hemp at both Monticello and Poplar Forest, Jefferson’s plantation in Bedford County, Virginia,” Jefferson’s estate writes Monticello.org. Jefferson once used 48 pounds of hemp to make clothing for child slaves.

Jefferson’s massive plantation could yield up to 150 pounds in a day: “One hand can cultivate 3 acres of hemp a year,” says Jefferson’s journal. Bearable soil yields 500 pounds per hectare. You can generally count on 100lbs for each foot where the hemp is over 4f. high. A hand can break 60 or 70 pounds a day, and even up to 150 pounds.” You can read page 95 of his Hemp Diary in his own handwriting here.

US-made threshing machines, invented around the time of the Declaration, were used for hemp and were a symbol of power over British supremacy.

Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” fueled the revolution and, when it was published in 1775, had the highest sales and circulation of any book in American history. It convinced the colonists that they were being exploited by the Crown. “We have an abundance of almost every article of defense,” the brochure reads. “Hemp thrives deep so we don’t need cordage.” The last line sparked speculation, but “rank” apparently means “fertility,” making sure the colonists don’t run out of hemp rope.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin owned a hemp paper mill and published content about the medicinal properties of hemp. Franklin published the Pennsylvania Gazette, citing Ephraim Chambers’ Universal Dictionary, in which he wrote that hemp was “of great use in art and manufacture” and that “the seed is credited with the ability to alleviate sexual desires; and its brew in milk is recommended for jaundice.” You can view the original edition here.

Like Washington, Franklin changed his mind on the question of slavery and was the first president of an abolitionist society, although little changed during his lifetime in the entrenched institution of slavery.

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton, America’s first Secretary of the Treasury, oversaw hemp imports to the United States and imposed a 5% tax on hemp imports in 1790. “…All other goods imported from abroad are subject to a duty of 5% ad.”-Valorem, with the exception of certain items deemed important to the industry, to which hemp does not count,” wrote Hamilton on May 21, 1790. ” It is therefore certain that there is a five percent duty on imports of hemp into the United States from any foreign country.”

Henry Clay

Clay ran unsuccessfully for the presidency three times, which is why his name is mentioned less often. Clay was also enthusiastic about hemp and forced his slaves to grow hemp. “Hemp was Henry Clay’s most lucrative source of income in Ashland,” writes HenryClay.org. “Men enslaved by Clay grew thousands of pounds of hemp and made it into rope and sacks for the cotton industry. Clay was adventurous and pursued many new innovations in equipment and cannabis strains.”

JamesMadison

James Madison, America’s fourth President and “Father of the Constitution,” was also reportedly a cannabis farmer and claimed that hemp gave him the insight to create a new democratic nation. James Madison University’s Industrial Hemp Research Program was created in 2015 by faculty from the biology and engineering departments and coordinates the university’s expertise for laboratory research.