A Short History of Hemp in America

Published by Herbal Edge | Education Blog

Are you smarter than a 5th Grader? What were the cash crops of American Colonialists? Tobacco and rice are often remembered as the major cash crops of early America, but one essential crop has been nearly forgotten: hemp. Easy to grow and used in countless industrial applications, such as Hemp fiber paper, textiles, clothing, ropes, rigging, and canvas (a word derived from cannabis), hemp was one of the most important staples of the early American economy. While students still learn about the importance of tobacco, rice, and corn, a 20th-century moral panic surrounding cannabis has largely erased hemp’s vital role from American history. Let us fill in the gap. 

Hemp’s Early Role in Colonial America

For centuries, hemp was a staple in crop rotation, often paired with nitrogen-fixing cover crops and valued for its ability to restore depleted fields. Its deep roots break up compacted soil, improving aeration and water retention, while its dense canopy shades out competitors, reducing the need for pesticides. Reaching full maturity in just three to four months, hemp absorbs heavy metals and toxins while leaving behind nutrient-rich organic matter that rebuilds the soil. Today, these same traits make hemp a powerful tool for phytoremediation: the intentional planting of hemp to draw pollutants from contaminated land and help the soil heal itself.

Hemp was introduced to North America by colonists in the 17th century and quickly became a cornerstone of the colonial economy. It was considered so essential that several colonies required farmers to grow a minimum quota of hemp each year, ensuring a steady supply for rope, sails, and textiles. In some regions, hemp fiber was even accepted as legal tender, allowing citizens to pay their taxes through a system known as commodity payments. This practice endured for nearly 150 years, only fading after the United States established a centralized currency and banking system in the early 19th century. Ironically, as the colonies transitioned away from commodity payments of hemp fiber to paper money, the currency issued by the government for farmers to pay taxes were printed on hemp-blend paper.

Many of the Founding Fathers grew hemp themselves or processed it for industrial use. Benjamin Franklin operated one of the earliest printing presses in Philadelphia and produced hemp-based paper at his mill, which was used for both currency and government documents. Franklin favored hemp blends because they absorbed ink cleanly and produced durable, long-lasting sheets. The first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were written on hemp paper, although the final drafts were put on animal hide. Though largely replaced by wood pulp in the modern era, hemp paper remains in limited use today by companies committed to sustainability (see the labels on our Rocky Reserve salves).

Hemp produces four to ten times more usable fiber per acre than trees, and its pulp is stronger, more durable, and far more resistant to yellowing and decay than traditional wood pulp. Unlike wood pulp paper, which relies on harsh chemical bleaching with chlorine, hemp pulp can be safely whitened using hydrogen peroxide. Early American paper notes incorporated hemp fiber not only for strength but also for counterfeit protection. The visible hemp strands made genuine bills easy to identify. The U.S. Treasury continues a similar tradition today, using a proprietary fiber blend in modern currency whose exact composition remains a closely guarded secret. 

When Hemp Was Essential

Throughout American history, farmers have been required to grow hemp during wartime, even as recently as World War II. Hemp fiber is stronger and more abrasion-resistant than cotton or most synthetics, as well as UV-resistant, antimicrobial, and mildew-resistant. These qualities made it indispensable to naval fleets. Before the 20th century, hemp was the world’s dominant source of rope, sailcloth, and canvas. In the 1930s, however, companies such as DuPont began producing synthetic fibers like nylon as replacements for hemp in industrial materials. The problem was that synthetics were generally less durable and more costly to produce, yet they were aggressively promoted through industrial and political alliances that ultimately sidelined hemp.

Hemp sequesters carbon and requires very little energy to process, giving most hemp products an exceptionally low carbon footprint. Because hemp fiber is more durable than cotton or synthetics, it offers a long useful lifespan. Being fully biodegradable, it has a short post-use lifespan. When discarded, hemp can even be composted to enrich the soil. In contrast, most synthetic fibers are petroleum-based, demanding high energy input during manufacturing and creating a far larger carbon footprint. Though they wear out quickly and are discarded sooner, they do not decompose; instead, they persist for centuries, shedding microplastics into soil and waterways long after their usefulness has ended.

While synthetic fibers had niche applications where they could replace hemp or cotton, they lacked a true competitive advantage, and the manufacturers knew it. Seeking one, they aligned themselves with prohibitionists and the newly formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), the predecessor to today’s DEA. Corporate and political interests teamed up with major media outlets to produce sensational stories that conflated hemp with cannabis and linked marijuana use to crime, insanity, domestic violence, and even murder. These propaganda campaigns, immortalized in films like Reefer Madness, fueled the moral panic of the 1930s that ultimately engulfed hemp. Many of those old reels are still available on Youtube, and they can be a lot of fun to watch. 

Hemp for Victory: America’s WWII Comeback

There would have certainly been a celebration in the board room at DuPont in 1937 when the Marijuana Tax Act was passed, effectively criminalizing all forms of cannabis, even hemp, regardless of THC content. (For those who don't know, THC is the main chemical in cannabis that gets the consumer high. Smoking or consuming low THC hemp would get the consumer about as high as baby spinach.)

But during World War II, Asian jute imports were cut off, and synthetic fiber manufacturers couldn’t meet the Navy’s demand for strong, natural fiber. So in 1942 the US Government launched  the “Hemp for Victory” campaign begging farmers to grow hemp again and support the war effort. Over 400,000 acres of hemp were grown to produce rope, canvas, and other critical materials. Then when the war ended, the moral panic about hemp resumed and, in a stunning act of Orwellian doublethink, the patriotic hemp farmers were told their crop was a criminal offence again. 

What America Forgot About Industrial Hemp

Hemp remained largely forgotten until 2018, when the Farm Bill once again legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp. Yet in rediscovering it, we’ve focused more on what can be extracted or synthesized from the plant than on the economic and environmental solutions it already provides, not to mention the historical medicinal uses. Hemp’s real value isn’t in its novelty, but in its ability to restore soil, reduce waste, and replace unsustainable materials. As we face the modern challenges of pollution and overproduction, it’s worth remembering that the answer may not be found in a laboratory, but in a plant our ancestors understood centuries ago. 

“Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science”