On Mon, 3 Mar 1997, Andrew Barr wrote:
 
> I don't know whether this is something that every American learns on his
> mother's knee, but is it true that Thomas Jefferson wrote one of his drafts
> of the Declaration of Independence in a tavern? I have read this more than
> once in an American newspaper, but have been unable to verify it from the
> sources available here in Britain. Does it belong to history or to legend?
> And, if the former, is it known which tavern? Was he drinking beer or wine
> at the time? If true, what does it tell us about present-day restrictions
> on drinking during working hours (which have now spread, like so many
> things, from America to Britain)?
 
I have found no specific references to Thomas Jefferson, but taverns and
bars figured prominently in Philadelphia in arguing the relative merits of
all aspects of the US Constitutional convention.  They were referred to as
the "nurseries of our legislators" where freedom and all aspects of it
were discussed among friends.
 
   "Whether or not taverns were the 'nurseries' of the legislatures, they
were certialy seed beds of the revolution, the places where British
tyranny was condemned, melitiamen organized, and independence plotted.
Patriots viewed public houses as the nurseries of freedom, in fron of
which liberty poles were invariably erected.  The British called them
nuisances and the hot beds of sedition."   The Alcoholic Republic: An
American Tradition, W.J. Rorabaugh, p.35
 
Remember that Paul Revere did not go from farm to farm with his warning of
"The British are coming!", but late at night when everyone who was not
drinking was asleep he went from tavern to tavern with his message.
 
Thayne
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 Things are more like they are today than they ever have been before.