Did Washington and Jefferson smoke dope?

[Rob Jackson]

> 	Thomas Pynchon's novel Mason & Dixon (1997) features a
> 	scene in which Washington shares a blunt with the eponymous
> 	surveyors while Martha supplies them with munchies. This
> 	doesn't prove anything, but it's reassuring to know that
> 	whenever an opportunity presents itself to combine historical
> 	revisionism and pot jokes, Pynchon is all over it like a
> 	wetsuit.
>
> http://www.connectsavannah.com/news/article/101528/

It's one of the most memorable scenes in the novel, and testament to  
the thorough and intensive research that Pynchon undertook in its  
composition.

Need to go back and read the chapter again, but I suspect that Pynchon  
extrapolates from the historical record on a couple of counts here. As  
a hemp-grower and a tobacco-smoker, it seems logical to assume that GW  
would at least have 'experimented' with the alternative crop as a  
tobacco substitute in his pipe as well. At the very least, I'd daresay  
that more than a few of GW's farm slaves would have indulged in a tote  
or two. And, as the writer of the article suggests, the absence of  
reference to smoking hemp in GW's and TJ's diaries perhaps says more  
than if they had written it down for posterity ...

But I think also that in his representation of the friendship between  
GW and 'Gershom', Pynchon is making a connection between dope-smoking  
and the mellow insightfulness it brings and the increasingly  
benevolent attitudes and generosity towards his slaves (not to mention  
Martha!) that GW showed ...

feliz navidad