in such an American painting as Susimna Triia.x (fia;. 

 2), done by an luiknown painter in 1730, indicates 

 that in this coiuitry as in England not only was the tea 

 ceremony of social importance but also that a certain 

 amount of prestige was associated with the equipage. 

 And, the very fact that an artist was commissioned for 

 a portrait of this young girl is suggestive of a more 

 than ordinary social status of the sitter and activity 

 depicted. 



English customs were generally imitated in this 

 country, particularly in the urban centers. Of Bos- 

 ton, where he visited in 1 740, Joseph Bennett ob- 

 served that "the ladies here visit, drink tea and in- 

 dulge every little piece of gentility to the height of the 

 mode and neglect the affairs of their families with as 

 good grace as the finest ladies in London." ^ English 

 modes and manners remained a part of the social be- 

 havior after the colonies ijccamc an independent 

 nation. Visitors to the newly formed United States 

 were apt to remark aijout such haijits as tea drinking, 

 as did Brissot de Warville in 1788, that "in this, as in 

 their whole manner of living, the Americans in gen- 

 eral resemble the English." ^ Therefore, it is not sur- 

 prising to find tliat during the 18th century the serving 

 of tea privately in the morning and socially in the 

 afternoon or early evening was an established custom 

 in many households. 



The naturalist Peter Kalm, during his visit to North 

 America in the mid-1 8th century, noted that tea was 

 a breakfast beverage in both Pennsylvania and New 

 York. From the predominantly Dutch town of 

 Albany in 1749 he wrote that "their breakfast is tea, 

 commonly without milk." At another time, Kalm " 

 stated: 



With the tea was eaten bread and butter or buttered 

 bread toasted over the coals so that the butter penetrated 

 the whole slice of bread. In the afternoon about three 

 o'clock tea was drunk again in the same fashion, except 

 that bread and butter was not served with it. 



This tea-drinking schedule was followed throughout 

 the colonies. In Boston the people "take a great 

 deal of tea in the morning," have dinner at two 

 o'clock, and "about five o'clock they take more tea. 



'John Marshall Phillips, American Silver, New York, 1949, 

 p. 76. 



'Jacques Pierre Brissot de Warville, J\few Travels in the United 

 States of America Performed in 17SS, London, 1794, p. 80. 



' Peter Kalm, The America of 1750. Peter Kalm's Travels in 

 North America, edited and translated by Adolph B. Benson, New 

 York, 1937, vol. 1, p. 346, vol. 2, p. 605. 



some wine, madeira [and] punch," * reported the 

 Baron Cromot du Bourg during his visit in 1781. 

 The Marquis de C'hastellux confirms his country- 

 man's statement about teatime, mentioning that the 

 ■Americans take "tea and punch in the afternoon." * 



During the first half of the 18th century the limited 

 amount of tea available at prohibitively high prices 

 restricted its use to a proportionately small segment 

 of the total population of the colonies. About mid- 

 century, however, tea was beginning to be drunk 

 by more and more people, as supplies increased and 

 costs decreased, due in part to the propaganda and 

 merchandising efforts of the East India Company. 

 According to Peter Kalm, tea, chocolate, and coffee 

 had been "wholly unknown" to the Swedish popula- 

 tion of Pennsylvania and the surrounding area before 

 the Eiiglish arrived, but in 1748 these beverages "at 

 present constitute even the country people's daily 

 breakfast. "'° A similar observation was made a few 

 years later by Israel Acrelius: " 



Tea, coffee, and chocolate are so general as to be found 

 in the most remote cabins, if not for daily use, yet for 

 visitors, mi.\ed with Muscovado, or raw sugar. 



America was becoming a country of tea drinkers. 

 Then, in 1767, the Townshend Act imposed a duty 

 on tea, among other imported commodities. Mer- 

 chants and citizens in opposition to the act urged a 

 boycott of the taxed articles. A Virginia woman, in 

 a letter '- to friends in England, wrote in 1769: 



... I have given up the Article of Tea, but some are not 

 quite so tractable; however if wee can convince the good 

 folks on your side the Water of their Error, wee may hope 

 to see happier times. 



In spite of the tax many colonists continued to indulge 

 in tea drinking. By 1773 the general public, ac- 

 cording to one Philadelphia merchant, "can afford 



' Baron Cromot du Bourg, "Journal de mon Sejour en 

 Amerique," Magazine of American History (1880-1881), quoted 

 in Charles H. Sherrill, French Memories oj Eighleenlh-Cenlury 

 America, New York, 1915, p. 155. 



' Marquis de Chastellux, Voyages de M. le Marquis de Chasteltux 

 dans PAmenque Septentrionale , Paris, 1788, quoted in Sheiiill, 

 op. cit. (footnote 8), p. 1 90. 



■» Kalm, op. cit. (footnote 7), vol. 1, p. 195. 



^' Israel Acrelius, A History of New Sweden; or. The Settlements 

 on the River Delaware, translated and edited by William M' 

 Reynolds, Philadelphia, 1874, p. 158. 



"^ Letter from M. Jacquelin, York, Virginia, to John Norton, 

 London, August 14, 1769. In, John Norton and Sons, Merchants 

 oj London and Virginia, Being the Papers from Their Counting House 

 for the Years 1750 to 1795, edited by Frances Norton Mason, 

 Richmond, 1937, p. 103. 



66 



BULLETIN 225: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



