Washington aligns his troops for the march against the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794.
Washington aligns his troops for the march against the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794.
The United States during the time of the whiskey rebellion in 1791-1794 was a place of uncertainty and intense patriotism. The American Revolution had just taken place and war veterans of America wanted time to relax and pursue their businesses inside their homeland in peace. Most of these war veterans were considered to be the common man of our country during that time. The others were referred to as the wealthy, although; they were just as American as the common man. Of course, there had to be a government to govern them both. Since the United States was just starting to layout principles and ideals of this new great nation, there was much debate to be had on the subject. Two influential Founding Fathers of America and advisers to the first President, George Washington: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had their share in the formation of the United States and what is stands for today. During this time of great beginnings, Hamilton stood as the government’s treasury secretary and Jefferson was the Secretary of State, heavily involved in foreign affairs, and soon to be Vice President in 1796. Hamilton’s installation of a sin tax on Whiskey, although beneficial at that time for the government’s war debt, was mostly in favor of big businesses and a strong government, two aspects which were opposites of Thomas Jefferson’s ideals, power to the common man and limited government, which act as the basis of the United States government today.
Little did the common man know, the Whiskey Rebellion would be a pivotal event in the United States’ timeline heading into the future. It began with the excised tax of Whiskey in 1791. This tax was set forth by Alexander Hamilton in his efforts to annul the government’s debt in bonds from the recent war. A plausible tax is what most Congressmen thought it to be and so it was passed, forcing farmers that distilled their leftover grain and corn into alcohol, or soon to be seasoned as Whiskey, to pay taxes on these goods. Farmers in the West had to transport their goods through mountains to the east and it was not so easily done while their goods were in the form of grain, which was larger and uneasy to transport. So they instead transported their goods by the gallon by distilling their grain before it was sent out using the distillation process as a better means for transportation.1 Notes: 1.”Whiskey Rebellion”.PETER KOTOWSKI. 2014. Accessed April 8, 2014. http://www.mountvernon.org/educational-resources/encyclopedia/whiskey-rebellion. 2. Ibid. 3. “Whiskey Rebellion”. PBS ONLINE.2000. Accessed April 8, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel/peopleevents/pande22.html 4. Slaughter, Thomas P. "The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution.". Philadelphia Pa. Oxford University Press USA, January 14, 1988. 153. 5. Slaughter.The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution, 177. 6. Foner, Eric. "ChapterNameHere." In Give me liberty!: an American history.. Brief 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 223.PBS. “Hamilton and the U.S. Constitution.” |
These farmers were especially against the new sin tax on Whiskey since it would cost them large amounts either by the gallon or by a flat rate, which was minimal to distillers in the East who had much larger distilling factories. Western farmers believed that Hamilton had purposely sought out to strengthen large businesses and stomp out the small-town farmers.2
With this belief of injustice came the Whiskey Rebellion, which predominantly took place in Pennsylvania. Farmers rebelled against the tax collectors sent by Washington. Soon these rebellions became group efforts and no matter how many collectors were sent, no tax was being collected. The government saw this as an issue dealing with the common man versus the government. The rebellion hit an all-time climax in 1793 when “men broke into the home of tax collector Benjamin Wells…one of the wealthier men in the region.”3 In 1794, “federal district attorney William Rawle issued subpoenas to more than 60 distillers in Pennsylvania” 4 who had not paid their Whiskey taxes. With little progress being made Washington knew it was time to take further action in retaining peace in his new nation and so he asked for written advice from fellow Congressmen. They responded with differing methods of action, some suggesting violence and others advising negotiation.5 Washington decided to use a little of both and sent commissioners to speak with the rebellion leaders while setting up an army at the same time. A popular referendum which was used to get a general consensus of how the people thought this conflict should continue or be resolved. In 1794, with a mixed consensus, Washington and Hamilton regulated the march of 12,950 6 militia men to suppress the American people into obeying federal law.
As the march grew closer to the West, Washington led and noticed that almost all of the Whiskey rebels had fled and gave in to the violence beforehand. At the end of it all, only two men were convicted of high treason and were sentenced to death, although pardoned by President Washington. Hamilton’s ideals of strong government and few rights of the people, except for the wealthy nation, had been illustrated throughout this Whiskey Rebellion which he set forth. The lesson learned from all of this was that government suppression of its people was dangerous and could have potentially started a civil war. Even though Hamilton’s sin tax on Whiskey was meant to lessen the country’s war debt during that time, it made little advancement in collecting taxes and more in the advancement of big businesses. In 1801 the whiskey tax was repealed once Thomas Jefferson became President, beginning the true formation of American ideals which stand today: power to the people. |