Did Benjamin Franklin say: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”?

One of the founding fathers of the United States is attributed to a laudatory statement about the foamy drink. We checked the correctness of such an attribution.

Allegedly, Franklin’s quote can often be found on sites collecting aphorisms of famous people. Among them Unquote, "Pearls of thought", Aphorism.ru, GreatWords.org And many others. It is also mentioned in better known sources - for example, in an article about beer In the Russian -speaking Wikipedia. Users of social networks like to share it: dozens of mentioning phrases can be found in "VKontakte", Facebook*, Instagram*, Twitter And Livejournal.

Abroad and (predictably), especially in the USA, this statement is even more popular. It is not surprising that it has already attracted the attention of local facts. So, the researcher became interested in the origin of the quote Barry Popikas well as portals The Quote Investigator And Snopes.

The authors of all three analysis pay attention to the fact that in no authoritative source this phrase is not presented as a statement by one of the authors of the US Independence Declaration. Most likely, a quote about beer is a processed endurance from a letter that Franklin sent in the summer of 1779 to Abbot Andre Morell. The full text of this letter, written in French, cites the Papers of Benjamin Franklin portal, which shows a digital version of the 37-volume Collected Political Works, prepared Researchers from Yale University.

Initially, the statement was formulated differently and, most importantly, devoted to another drink - guilt. Fraglin's letter that is fully interested in us Sounds So: “We are told about the transformation of water into wine at a wedding in Kan Galilee as a miracle. But this appeal by the goodness of God takes place every day before our eyes. Take a look at the rain that descends from the sky to our vineyards and mixes with grapes to turn into wine; Constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy! ”

How He emphasizes The Quote Investigator, the original quote Franklin about wine turned into a viral phrase about beer gradually. So, in 1963 in one American culinary book appeared This version: "Wine is a constant evidence that God loves us and loves to see us happy." A year later, The Cincinnati Enquirer has made another change, presenting a quote as "wine is a constant evidence that God loves us and wants to see us happy." Already in 1986, the Chicago Sun-Times appeared a review of the culinary book, in which God was no longer just “wanted to see us happy”, but “I wanted us to be happy.” And only ten years later in one Pennsylvanian newspaper, instead of wine in Franklin’s phrase, beer first appeared.

Thus, there is no reason to consider Benjamin Franklin the author of the quote about beer as evidence of love from God. In well -known texts written by a politician, there is a very similar phrase about wine, which over the past few decades has been significantly transformed and has become popular in a distorted version.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns social networks Facebook and Instagram, an extremist organization; Its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. The Quote Investigator. Beer/Wine is Proof that God Loves Us and Wants us to be happy
2. Snopes. DID Ben Franklin Say ‘Beer Is Proof that God Loves and Wants Us to be happy’?
3. Barry Popik. "Beer is proof that Gods us and winds us to be happy"
4. Is it true that the beer contains estrogen?
5. Is it true that George Washington tried to poison tomatoes?