Hemp History Timeline

1700s

American farmers are required by law to grow hemp in Virginia and other colonies.

1776

The Declaration of Independence is drafted on hemp paper.

1797

The U.S.S. Constitution is outfitted with 60 tons of hemp sails and rigging.

1790s

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, our founding fathers, grow hemp and extol its benefits.

1840

Abraham Lincoln uses hemp seed oil to fuel his household lamps.

1916

USDA Bulletin No. 404 shows that hemp produces four times more paper per acre than do trees.

1938

Popular Mechanics article "New Billion Dollar Crop" explains that new developments in processing technology could use hemp to manufacture over 25,000 different products, "from cellophane to dynamite."

1942

Henry Ford builds an experimental car body made with hemp fiber, which is ten times stronger than steel.

1942- 1946

American farmers from Kentucky to Maine to Wisconsin to Oregon harvest over 150,000 acres of hemp through the USDA's Hemp for Victory program.

1957

Hemp is last grown in the U.S. due to government confusion over hemp and drug varieties of the plant, while new government incentives for industry replace natural fibers with plastics, ultimately bankrupting key hemp processors.

1998

The U.S. begins to import food-grade hemp seed and oil.

2004

Ninth Circuit Court decision in Hemp Industries Association vs. DEA permanently protects sales of hemp foods and body care products in the U.S.

2005

A bill is introduced in the U.S. Congress for the first time to allow states to regulate hemp farming, but to date no committee hearing or floor vote has taken place.

2007

The first hemp licenses in over 50 years are granted to two North Dakota farmers.