Whiskey Rebellion

The Whiskey Rebellion was a rural uprising in the western counties of Pennsylvania in 1794 in response to a United States federal government imposed excise tax placed on liquor. The rebellion had to be put down by force, as George Washington became the only U.S. President to command troops in the field. It demonstrated that the federal government was willing to enforce laws by force. The unpopularity of this tax contributed to the resignation of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who later formed the Republican Party which proved to be the downfall of the Federalist Party.

Background

After the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1789, the federal government assumed the debts that the states incurred during the American Revolution. In an effort to reduce the national debt, Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, proposed a bill to tax distilled spirits. The bill was passed into law in 1791. The tax was not well received by farmers and distillers in the western frontier counties, primarily in Pennsylvania. Due to the difficulty of shipping grain to market, the western farmers became economically dependent on fermenting and distilling their grains in order to preserve it's lifespan. These frontier counties also operated largely on the barter system, which made it difficult for them to pay cash taxes. Believing that the federal government was acting against their interests, the frontiersmen refused to pay the tax.

The tax resulted in both violent and non-violent responses to it. In September 1791, sixteen men in Washington County tarred and feathered a tax collector named Robert Johnson. That same month, the western Pennsylvania counties of Washington, Allegheny, Westmoreland, and Fayette organized a representative meeting in Pittsburgh where they attempted a more moderate denouncement of the law. Collectors feared for their safety and no taxes were collected in western Pennsylvania throughout 1792. By late 1792, an excise officer named John Neville finally found a residence that would allow him to set up an office. He was unable to settle in, however, when locals threatened to burn the landlord's house down.

Politicians in the east feared this violent resistance to pay the law signified a move toward frontier independence, of which there had been several occurrences in the 1780's.

Bibliography

• Hogeland, William. The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the frontier rebels who challenged America's newfound sovereignty. Scribner, 2006.
• Slaughter, Thomas P. The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier epilogue to the American Revolution. Oxford University Press, 1986.