AI recreation — Philadelphia’s City Tavern, where 55 delegates ran up this tab two days before signing the Constitution
Two days before signing the Constitution, 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention ran up a tab at Philadelphia’s City Tavern. The receipt survives. Here is what 55 of America’s founders ordered in a single evening.
What They Drank
| Beverage | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Madeira (fortified Portuguese wine) | 54 bottles |
| Claret (Bordeaux red wine) | 60 bottles |
| Punch (rum-based, served in bowls) | 7 full bowls |
| Beer | 12 bottles |
| Cider | 8 bottles |
| Whiskey | 8 bottles |
George Washington was among the 55 patrons. Two days later, the same men signed the Constitution of the United States.
That is roughly 2.5 bottles of wine per person before the whiskey, punch, beer, and cider. The Constitution was drafted by people who needed a drink. This is historically accurate.
Every article about this bar tab pulls the same move. Take the original bill, 89 British pounds and change (this was 1787, so that’s pounds, shillings, and pence, not dollars), run it through a currency inflation calculator, print whatever number comes out. Depending on which calculator you use, that’s anywhere from $15,400 to $24,000. Nobody agrees, and nobody shows their work.
So we didn’t do that. We priced out the actual order. Fifty-four bottles of Madeira, sixty bottles of claret, the whole tab, at what those categories of drink genuinely cost in a wine shop right now. Here’s the receipt.
The Receipt, Priced at Today’s Wine Shop
| What They Ordered | What You’d Buy Today | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 54 bottles Madeira | Blandy’s Rainwater Medium Dry Madeira — $19.97/bottle | $1,078 |
| 60 bottles claret | Francis Ford Coppola Diamond Collection Claret, California — $19.97/bottle | $1,198 |
| 12 bottles beer | Craft beer, ~$4/bottle | $48 |
| 8 bottles cider | Hard cider, ~$4.50/bottle | $36 |
| 8 bottles whiskey | Rye whiskey, ~$30/bottle | $240 |
| 7 bowls rum punch | ~2 bottles dark rum/bowl, ~$25/bottle | $350 |
| What the whole tab costs today | ~$2,951 | |
Want to actually impress someone instead of just refilling the tab? Rare Wine Co.’s Special Reserve Madeira runs $50–65 a bottle, and Ramey’s Napa Valley Claret is $42.97. Pour those instead and you’re north of $6,500.
What Actually Answers “How Much Did This Cost?”
Inflation-Adjusted Estimate
~$19,000
The number every article uses. Nobody agrees on the exact figure because nobody’s showing their math.
What It Actually Costs
~$2,951
Real bottles, real prices, real receipt. This is the number that survives a fact check.
Here’s the actual story. In 1787 that wine had crossed an ocean by sail. Blandy’s still makes the Madeira. California still bottles a Claret under that name. Same drinks, same names, and now they’re a supermarket aisle away instead of a transatlantic crossing. That’s not inflation. That’s the world getting smaller.
Source: Decanter, “Independence Day Celebrations: Madeira and the Founding Fathers,” July 4, 2022; Emerging Revolutionary War, “Founders and Drinkers,” August 2025 | Methodology: Original CWA calculation, July 2026. Historical bill total (89 pounds, 4 shillings, 2 pence, in 1787 British currency) and itemized quantities per Dr. Gordon Lloyd, Pepperdine University, and multiple corroborating primary-source transcriptions. Madeira and claret pricing: Blandy’s Rainwater Medium Dry Madeira, Francis Ford Coppola Diamond Collection Claret 2023, Ramey Napa Valley Claret 2019, and Rare Wine Co. Special Reserve Madeira line, wine.com, July 2026. Other modern retail prices reflect representative 2026 pricing for each beverage category, not specific historical brands, which had no direct modern equivalent. Inflation-adjusted range compiled from The Washington Post, American Founding Institute, and Coffee or Die.
