The Founders’ Cups

On September 14, 1787, just days before the Constitution would be voted out of the Philadelphia Convention, the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry threw a farewell party for George Washington. The volunteer cavalry had joined his command in 1776 and early 1777 for the Delaware River crossing, as well as the battles at Trenton and Princeton, and remained with him through Valley Forge. The bar tab from this “tippling” tells the story: 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of Claret, 22 bottles of porter, 8 of hard cider, 12 of beer, and 7 bowls of punch. Plus fees for the glasses, tumblers, and decanters the 55 gentlemen destroyed that evening. Of all these libations, the one that dominated the night dominated the Revolutionary era: Madeira.