Volume 14 , Issue 32

Whiskey Insurrection of 1794

The "Whiskey Rebellion (or Insurrection)" was a tax protest in the United States and came to a climax in July 1794, when a U.S. beginning in 1791, during the presidency of George Washington. It came to a climax in July 1794, when a marshal arrived in western Pennsylvania to serve writs to distillers who had not paid the excise.

The alarm was raised. 500 armed men attacked the fortified home of tax inspector General John Neville. Washington responded by sending peace commissioners to western Pennsylvania to negotiate with the rebels, while at the same time calling on governors to send a militia force to suppress the violence. The tax was a part of treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton's program to pay off the national debt. On the western frontier, protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting the tax.

General Washington resounded by sending peace commissioners to western Pennsylvania to negotiate with the rebels, while at the same time calling on governors to send a militia force to suppress the violence.

15,000 militia were provided by the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New jersey and Pennsylvania with General George Washington rode at the head of an army to suppress the insurgency. The rebels went home before the arrival of the army. There was no confrontation. Twenty men were arrested, but were later acquitted or pardoned. The issue fueled support for the new opposition Democratic Republican Party, which repealed the tax when it came to power in Washington in 1801.

The Whiskey Rebellion demonstrated that the new national government had the willingness and ability to suppress violent resistance to its laws, but remained difficult to collect. The events contributed to the formation of political parties in the United States, which was already underway.

The whiskey tax was repealed after "Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party," which opposed "Hamilton's Federalist Party," came to power in 1800.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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