What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

“BEST geneva, made and distilled from rye.”

When John Felthausen wanted the public to know about the “BEST geneva [or genever], made and distilled from rye,” that he produced, he placed an advertisement in the October 23, 1775, edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.  He declared that he distilled his spirits “in the same manner as Holland geneva is made,” assuring prospective customers of the quality and taste.  To entice readers to purchase his genever, Felthausen reported that “some gentlemen have advertised in this paper to encourage that business” because “there is not any person at present, that distills liquor from grain in this government” or colony.  In answer to colonizers who expressed a desire for someone to take responsibility for distilling genever and other spirits in New York, Felthausen suggested that they had a responsibility to support his business now that he accepted their charge to launch such an enterprise.

Yet Felthausen did not address solely those who had written of their desire to see genever produced locally.  Instead, he proclaimed that he “hoped every friend to his country” would buy his genever, “especially at those times when we ought to give a preference to our own manufactures.”  The distiller made a “Buy American” argument, confident that prospective customers knew all about the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement devised by the First Continental Congress in response to the Coercive Acts.  The Continental Association also called on colonizers to promote “Agriculture, Arts, and the Manufactures of this Country” as alternatives to imported goods.  Throughout the colonies, supporters of the American cause mobilized around the choices that they made in the marketplace.  Many became even more determined to so after the battles at Lexington and Concord.  Entrepreneurs like Felthausen encouraged consumers to practice politics when they made purchases, presenting their decisions as civic duties for “every friend to his country.”