$25 million worth of government debt and Alexander Hamilton's idea that the implementation of a sin tax on whiskey could solve their financial issues would be the cause of an uprising among the people.
How did the Whiskey Task affect the people? How did George Washington settle this rebellion? And what did it signify for the government's power?
Fig. 1 Whiskey Insurrection
1794 Whiskey Rebellion
After the American Revolution, President George Washington bought about $25 million worth of state debt at the suggestion of his Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. The war left the states with enormous debt and runaway inflation. By buying the debt of these states the government centralized the debt and in doing so centralized the government’s power over the health of the economy. This stabilized the economies of the states, but meant the federal government had to come up with a way to pay off this debt.
Fig. 2 George Washington and Alexander Hamilton Illustration
To solve this problem, Hamilton proposed a few things...
- Firstly, the government would sell new bonds to investors. These bonds would give wealthy people a stake in the success of the government, which Hamilton believed would be essential to a vital economy.
- He also wanted to make America less dependent on foreign goods, so the government would subsidize American manufacturing and tax foreign goods.
- He also proposed the creation of a central bank, which would monitor and be responsible for things such as inflation and government funds.
Hamilton had another idea for paying off the government debt: taxes on the production and sale of certain goods. One of these goods was whiskey, setting up the economic battlefield which caused the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion.
Whiskey Rebellion definition
The Whiskey Rebellion was about more than just a tax on spirits.
The tax protest against the new federal government in the US from 1791 to 1794 rebelled against the first-ever tax imposed on a domestic product.
As this quote from Alexander Hamilton demonstrates, it was also about the first show of a fledgling government’s power, used to squash an uprising by poor and disadvantaged farmers. The events of the Whiskey Rebellion echo across time, remaining emblematic of issues that are still debated on the American political stage today: federal authority, government interference, equitable taxation, and elitism.
Fig. 3 The Whiskey rebellion Painting
This being the result, it is become the more indispensable and urgent to press forward the forces destined to act against the Insurgents with all possible activity and Energy. The advanced season leaves no time to spare, and it is extremely important to afford speedy protection to the well-disposed, and to prevent the preparation and accumulation of greater means of Resistance
- Alexander Hamilton
Whiskey Rebellion flag
In Pennsylvania, farmers began to organize and even designed a Whiskey Rebellion flag. In July 1794, Regional Tax Inspector John Neville threatened a farmer with arrest for not paying the tax. The next day, 35 farmers rioted at Neville’s mansion on Bower Hill, near Pittsburgh, demanding his resignation. Violence broke out, and the protesters dispersed.
Fig. 4 Whiskey Rebellion Flag
- Two days later they returned, this time as a group of 500 armed men. They torched Neville’s home and on August 1st they declared a state of rebellion.
- In August, President Washington responded with a proclamation ordering the rebels to desist. He also called for military support to quash the insurrection.
- The rebels created a committee consisting of 15 of their members. This committee was meant to represent the uprising in negotiations with Washington. However, diplomacy failed to resolve the issue, and Washington and the committee were unable to reach an agreement and no laws were created.
Whiskey Rebellion Timeline
To the farmers, the whiskey tax wasn’t only a financial burden. The American Revolutionary War was still fresh in the public memory and had been instigated by the issue of taxation without representation. Taxation, therefore, was a touchy subject, and the whiskey tax seemed like a contradiction of the new nation’s ideals.
There was also a logistical impediment to the tax - it was only payable with currency. For farmers whose main means of exchange was barter, cash was difficult to come by. Protests broke out throughout the country in 1791, in every state south of New York.
| Date | Event |
| March 1, 1791 | The Whiskey tax was passed through Congress. |
| September 7, 1791 | The meeting of Pittsburgh Assembly. |
| July 16, 1794 | Around 400 rioters took part in a conflict with tax collectors. |
| August 1, 1794 | The people of the rebellion gathered at Braddocks Field to discuss their issues. |
| August 1794 | George Washington sent a peace commission to Pennsylvania. |
| September 30, 1794 | Washington left the City of Philadelphia. |
| October 16, 1794 | Under Washington's orders, military forces gathered from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey to oppose the Western Pennsylvania riots.George Washington's forces totaled 12,950 men! |
| October 20, 1794 | George Washington stated he was to return to Philadelphia to return to his Civil duties. |
| October 24, 1794 | George Washington's military troops arrived in Pittsburgh to find that the majority of the riots had concluded and those involved had dispersed. |
| November 19, 1794 | 150 men were captured and arrested for acts of treason, but most cases were not passed due to the circumstance. |
| July 10, 1975 | Washington issued pardons to Philip Weigel and John Mitchell, two of those that were pronounced guilty of treason. |
The Whiskey Tax and Pennsylvanian Farmers
At the time, the rural American population had little access to actual cash and conducted their local economies mostly through bartering. To farmers in the west, grain was an extremely valuable form of currency, but it was quite expensive to ship the grain over the Appalachians to the east. To overcome this, farmers often distilled their grain into whiskey. They would then sell the whiskey in small batches, which were more easily transported to the east or the south.
Fig. 5 Tarring & Feathering an Excise Officer, an engraving by John Rogers
When the Whiskey Tax was passed by congress in 1791, history says these farmers were especially impacted. The Whiskey tax was a regressive tax, which meant that it was taxed more when it was sold by the gallon than when it was sold in larger, bulk volumes. Therefore, larger distilleries, and the people who owned those distilleries, would pay less tax on their sales than the farmers who sold their whiskey by the gallon.
Sin Tax
A tax is imposed on goods that may be harmful to the consumer or society. Today, these taxes are placed on things such as gambling winnings, cigarettes, and alcohol. Legislators who supported the tax argued that alcohol was not a necessity, and rather a sinful luxury.
To those for whom whiskey was a significant part of their economy, the naming of alcohol as a luxury appeared elitist! Though we may imagine whiskey to be an upscale drink of choice, at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion, it was easy and inexpensive to produce and was a common drink among the rural American poor. It was used often at weddings and funerals, making it a part of the western way of life, and sharpening the blow of the whiskey tax.
Did you know?
The tax on whiskey would ultimately cost Pennsylvania farmers about 30% of the small yearly profit they made, which was a very large amount of money for these cash-poor farmers.
George Washington Whiskey Rebellion
To George Washington, the Whiskey Rebellion was a decisive event: it would either establish or undermine the authority of the federal government. As diplomacy had been ineffective, Washington gathered military troops to meet the rebels. This was the first use of the Militia Acts of 1792, which gave the president power to call state militia into federal service to enforce national laws.
Fig. 6 George Washington Illustration
The troops were an overwhelmingly large force, which the rebels were not willing to fight. Instead, the uprising collapsed at the military’s arrival, and the conflict was over without Washington’s troops having fired a single shot. Some rebels were tried, but only two of them were convicted of treason. Both of those convicted men were later pardoned by the president.
Did you know?
George Washington would become one of early America’s most successful whiskey sellers. After leaving the presidency in 1797, he built a distillery that finished construction in 1798. This distillery produced 11,000 gallons of whiskey in 1799, making it the largest whiskey distillery in the United States.
The Federalists vs. The Republicans
Both George Washington and Alexander Hamilton were Federalists, while Thomas Jefferson was a Republican who expressed opposition to many Federalist policies.
The Federalists vs. The Republicans
Federalists believed in a strong central government that would promote economic growth, implement taxes, and foster a good relationship with Great Britain. Republicans, also called Democratic-Republicans, felt that the centralized authority of a federalist government would take autonomy away from individuals and states, and favor the wealthy.
Fig. 7 Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson believed that the government should protect the rights of its citizens and that citizens have the right to rebel. Among the Republican Party, there was a sense of outrage over what they saw as an overstep by the federal government. They feared that the government’s response to the Whiskey Rebellion represented a step toward too much government power.
To The Federalists, the government’s military actions were a triumph. In his response to the Whiskey Rebellion, Washington had done two things of which the Federalists approved:
Whiskey Rebellion Significance
The Whiskey Rebellion remains an important event in history. The Whiskey Tax was the country’s first federally mandated internal revenue tax and set a precedent for taxation that affected citizens across all states. The squashing of the rebellion confirmed the power of the government to levy tax laws against citizens and to enforce those laws. It also widened the divide between the Federalist and Republican parties and their differing ideologies.
Whiskey Rebellion (1794) - Key takeaways
The Whiskey Rebellion took place between 1791 and 1794 in response to the federal government imposing a tax on the sale of whiskey.
This tax disproportionately affected farmers in the west who depended on whiskey as both a form of currency and a way to sell and transport their grains.
These farmers rebelled violently, but the rebellion was eventually ended by a massive military force sent in by the federal government under George Washington's command.
The rebellion calls into question ideas about government power and tax laws, and how policies can disproportionately affect certain populations.
The Whiskey Rebellion signifies the federal government's power to implement taxes on the people and the people's lack of control over it.
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