History: Rough Trade During the Revolutionary War

 

Molly House

Thinking about where to get some currency

On both sides of the Atlantic, rough trade was flourishing during the Revolutionary War period.  In England, underground meeting places, called Molly Houses were the place for "like minded" folk to find some sexual liaisons and also to eat or drink. 
The United States is a different story - perhaps because of the more sophisticated natures of Paris and London compared to the moral and Puritanical influence on the States, or perhaps because it was considered impolite to document meeting places and names - there is no evidence that Molly Houses existed in the U.S.  Although, I suspect that the docks and certain street corners were great places to pick up trade, and there IS evidence that there were plenty of consumers.  And the breeches those soldiers wore were awfully tight!

18th Century Package

With those poor Continental soldiers not being paid for months on end because the Continenal Congress had no cash, you can only imagine.  A young soldier's gotta eat!

Von Steuben and Lover

Evidence of sodomy at the highest levels of the U.S. government is well documented, as are numerous instances of "too close a friendship" among certain founding fathers and war heros. Alexander Hamilton and his best friend's correspondance during the war was so scandalous that his son refused to publish or mention the letters in his biography. And of course, the founder of West Point, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben had a 17 year old in tow, and went on to "adopt" as a son John Mulligan, who seems have been tossed around from one founding father to another. 

Perhaps because of the lack of documentation, or because the period itself isn't much in vogue, it is difficult to find any popular takes on U.S. rough trade during the 18th century. Hell, it's even difficult to find a photo of a hot guy in a continental soldier outfit. Here are a few, though.







Hot Continental Dad and Son.  Don't worry, Chad Lowe was over 18 at the time of filming.





Heath Ledger as sexy Revolutionary

Anyways, it seems like the only two really good films featuring hot young revolutionary rough trade types would be these two: