Hemp in History
For 10,000 years, cannabis hemp was our planet’s primary agricultural crop, producing the majority of fiber, fabric, paper, medicine, oil, and fuel. China has cultivated hemp since 2800 BC. The Arabs were the first people to master the triangular sail made of canvas, or canefas from the Greek word kannabis. The invention of sails made possible trade routes to the New World. The British Navy used hemp in the 1500s for the riggings, pendants, pennants, sails, flags, ropes, sealant, maps, logs, and even the Bible. 90% of all sails from 5 BC until late 1800s were made from hemp. Even today hemp is used on some ships because it is resistant to mildew and weathering in extreme conditions. Rembrandt and Van Gogh used hemp canvas for their oil paintings.
In the US, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew acres of hemp. Thomas Jefferson believed that hemp was a necessity to the wealth and independence of the colonies and was the first cannabis smuggler on record. In 1776, the first and second drafts of the Declaration of independence were written on hemp paper, before being copied over to animal skin parchment. Betsy Ross sewed stars and stripes to the American flag on hemp, and women organized spinning bees to clothe soldiers with hemp fibers during the American Revolution. Benjamin Franklin founded one of the first paper mills with hemp cannabis for free colonial press. The tarp of covered wagons were made from hemp canvas.
According to the US census in 1850, there were approximately 8400 hemp plantations with 2000 acres of land or more, growing different varieties of hemp. In 1896 Rudolph Diesel produced his famous engine and believed vegetable and seed oils were more efficient and clean burning than petroleum.
In the late 1930s, series of campaigns were launched against hemp, and in 1937 Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which started the beginning of hemp prohibition. New plastic fibers replaced natural hemp fibers. During World War II, the USDA subsidized hemp cultivation for the war efforts and over one million acres of hemp were grown in the Midwest. The hemp industry was shut down again when the war ended.
The American Farm Bureau, the largest farming organization in the U.S. passed a unanimous resolution in 1996 to “encourage research into the viability and economic potential of industrial hemp production.”