Whiskey Rebellion Narrative

The Whiskey Rebellion

In the year of 1789, The United States had ratified the new Constitution. After the long and hard war, the new country was in debt to the countries that provided the tools for battle. The United states had to pay debt. Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, and the congress thought that it would be best if the people who sold spirits were taxed. This was a great problem for the people in the west because they had to sell the wheat that they grew to the people in the east, but it cost a lot of money to ship across the country in large bales of wheat. To resolve this, the people in the west distilled the wheat into whisky, which allowed it to be transported easily. The problem with changing the wheat into whiskey was that the government could tax the people for selling the spirits, and this did not make the whiskey vendors happy. Now they either had to transport all of the wheat and pay a large price for the transportation, or they could change it into whiskey and pay a tax that was set by the government.

In the summer of 1794, the US Marshal, David Lennon, arrived in the counties south of Pennsylvania, Allegheny, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland, and asked for the tax from the people, who were unwilling to pay. The people responded by shooting at him, but luckily he got away. President George Washington met with his Cabinet and the Governor of Pennsylvania, Thomas Mifflin, after thousands of rebels met at Braddock Field in mid-1794. He made the proclamation that the rebels should “disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes.” This proclamation invoked the Militia Act of 1792, which allowed the President to use the state militias to enforce federal law. Almost 13,000 militia men came together and were on hold to try to quell the rebellion. Before Washington sent the army to attack the rebels, he sent William Bradford, Jasper Yaetes, and James Ross to try to reason with the rebel leaders. Neither of the two groups were able to find a peaceful solution and the three men sent by Washington reported that it was “absolutely necessary that the civil authority should be aided by a military force in order to secure a due execution of the laws.” Washington led 13,000 men into the Western Counties of Pennsylvania. When he arrived at the spot where the rebels were placed, he appointed General Henry Lee, along with Alexander Hamilton to defeat the rebels, and more than 150 rebels along with 20 of the leaders were captured. Militia went home but some stayed back to make sure that a rebellion did not spring again. This rebellion was one of the first organized rebellions against new constitutional government, but was resolved by the power of the new government.