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John Adams, soon to be president, wrote to his wife Abigail in 1774
about a recent event that he had while traveling during these events.
He stopped at an inn, and he inquired at this inn, a certain Mrs. Huston's inn.
He said, "is it lawful for a weary traveler to refresh himself with a dish
of tea, provided it has been honestly smuggled and paid no duties at all?".
Now Mrs. Huston didn't appreciate the meaning of honestly smuggled.
No distinctions mattered to her.
Tea was tea, and if you drank it, you were un-American.
And so she replied to John Adams, "No, sir.
We have renounced all tea in this place."
But she did offer him coffee.