Should a man be punished for socializing with friends and enjoying a bit of Kentucky hospitality while doing so? Moses Washburn, a Shelby County resident, thought not.
In 1861, he wrote to the governor asking that his fine – for keeping a disorderly house – be lifted, stating that he was “raised up under the old hospitable habits of Kentucky,” and while he may have had “a little two much licker aboard,” he was only drinking with friends at home–“as he had a right to do.”
He argues that he did not mean to cause a disturbance, but simply “has never joined the new fangled temporance society.”
More than 100 men signed his petition. Clearly, Washburn was not alone in his cultural understanding of hospitality.