The Native Sugar Maple

"Attention to our sugar orchards is essentially necessary to secure the independence of our country." 

- Anthony Haswell, Vermont Gazette 

     With the introduction of Alexander Hamilton's Assumption Plan to consolidate each individual states debt into one national debt, our country slowly started to break apart into its first political parties: Federalists and Republicans.  Federalists, such as Hamilton and Adams, favored close ties with Britain and a strong central government, while  Republicans, such as Jefferson and Madison, favored the powers of the individual states and strongly believed that anything related to Britain would not be beneficial to our country.  Hamilton's idea of industry as the future of the United States was a stark contrast to Jefferson and Madison's idea that our future rested in agriculture.  Jefferson believed one tree would be the greatest economic and political weapon against Hamilton's new national bank and his push for growing industry in the United States: The native sugar maple.  

     The native sugar maple has many qualities that were favorable to Jefferson.  It could be grown on a small scale farm verses a plantation because it did not require the use of slaves to harvest it, and women and children could harvest the sap with ease.  The native sugar maple also provided beautiful scenery when its leaves changed colors in the fall.  Jefferson preferred the beauty and serenity of nature to the turmoil that ensued in Philadelphia.  He also believed that maple sugar could be a great export for the United States and would in turn lower the dependence on Britain for sugarcane imported from the West Indies.  Anything that helped break ties with Britain was considered a positive to Jefferson and Madison, who were bound by the taxations on tobacco that was grown on their Virgina plantations.  

     Two particular stops on Jefferson and Madison's Tour of New England were influential to the promotion of the native sugar maple throughout the United States.  First was their stop in Bennington, Vermont at the home of Moses Robinson.  Robinson's home was located in the "heart of sugar maple country" and he was eager to help Jefferson and Madison learn more about the trees by answering many questions, such as how many trees per acre were planted in the groves.  The second place that was influential to the promotion of sugar maples was the last stop on Jefferson and Madison's tour, Prince William's nursery.   Jefferson purchased every sugar maple tree he could while there.  He would later plant sugar maple trees from Prince William's nursery in Monticello but in the end, he would not yield a crop due to climate conditions.  While Jefferson was not able to produce sugar from his sugar maple trees, it still follows the idea that the future of the United States was in agriculture, an opinion held by others such as George Washington,  James Madison and John Adams.  

     On the other side of that was Alexander Hamilton who had created the first national bank to regulate commerce and was looking for the site of the first industrial city.  Hamilton believed that the future of economy depended commerce and a close relationship with Britain, not what could be grown in the soil.  He wanted to build the first industrial city in the United States because it would provide Americans with goods, such as paper and linen, as well as provide products to export to other nations, mainly Britain.  Hamilton sent out scouts to find a location for the city and they returned with the idea of Niagara Falls, where the waterfalls would be a prime energy source for mills.