Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum
Marketed by abolitionists as sugar untouched by slavery. The market preferred cane.
Benjamin Rush wrote pamphlets. Thomas Jefferson, of all people, planted maple groves at Monticello. The marketing was sharp: “free sugar,” “sugar untainted by blood.” The market was sharper: cane was cheaper, and the experiment quietly collapsed. The tree itself remained, and now produces a polite breakfast condiment.
