Lagniappe: Thomas Jefferson and Maple Sugar

In 1790, Thomas Jefferson bought fifty pounds of maple sugar to sweeten his coffee. This was less a culinary decision than a political one: he'd been pressured by his friend and fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush, to advocate for the use of home-grown maple sugar instead of cane sugar, which was dependent upon slave labor.

Amy Stewart, The Drunken Botanist

Lest people think that modern times are the only ones in which food boycotts were used to protest politics.