Jay’s Treaty and Washington’s handling of the Whiskey rebellion were  “critical junctures” because it asked the question of whether the people should have the power to dispute about decisions that the Constitution had selected that job for a certain few. The whiskey rebellion happened because of fear of British attacks on the United States of America, thus he taxed the distilling of products, which caused much discontent to Alleghenies, who distilled a large part of their grains. Then men in West Pennsylvania resisted against that tax saying it was repression not revenue. The rebellion was spreading thus Washington lead a militia force to stop the rebellion. This meant that the people went against their Constitution and became involved in politics that were affecting them. The Jay treaty made England pay the Americans all their debt of western lands. The Jay Treaty was when John Jay was given two positions in the government. This caused much controversy because a person is not supposed to have two positions in the national government.