today we're looking at the whiskey rebellion
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you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos the american revolution
officially came to an end in 1783 with the americans gaining full independence although the
americans were victorious they did take on a large amount of debt to pay for the war much of that
debt was passed on to the individual states since under the articles of confederation the federal
government could not collect taxes this debt and turmoil over paying back that debt of course led
to events such as shea's rebellion that prompted the founding fathers to write a new constitution
that laid out a framework for a new government under this constitution the office of the
president of the united states was established and of course george washington would become the first
president being inaugurated on april 30th of 1789 but not long after taking office washington began
to face serious domestic issues or problems taking place inside the country in 1790 washington's
treasury secretary alexander hamilton pushed for the federal government to take over the debt
that was still left from the revolution hamilton suggested several measures to address the debt
one suggestion was placing a tax on whiskey much of the grains grown to produce whiskey
were grown in western pennsylvania now president washington was opposed to hamilton's suggestion
of a whiskey tax but washington toured the young nation and met with local government officials
and discussed the idea many officials were in favor of the tax and washington took this
assurance back to congress which soon after passed a bill authorizing the tax on whiskey but protests
against the new tax began almost immediately many argued that the tax was unfair to small producers
of whiskey under the new law large producers paid the tax annually at a rate of 6 cents per gallon
and the more they produced the more they saved on taxes smaller producers however were stuck with
paying 9 cents per gallon in taxes soon after the tax went into effect violence began to break out
tax collectors began to be harassed and threatened very similar to the treatment of british tax
collectors before the revolution on september 11 1791 tax officer robert johnson was writing his
collection route through western pennsylvania when he was surrounded by a mob who stripped him naked
then tarred and feathered him tax collectors homes were broken into and their families were assaulted
violence came to a head on the evening of july 17 1794 in allegheny county at the home of john
neville who was the county's tax collector as many as 700 marched to neville's home and demanded that
he surrender to them but guarding the home were federal troops under the command of major james
kirkpatrick earlier in the evening kirkpatrick had helped neville to escape and hide in the nearby
woods after the troops refused to turn over neville the mob set fire to several buildings
on the farm and then gunfire broke out the troops and the protesters exchanged fire for over an hour
in what became known as the battle of bower hill several protesters were killed and at least one
soldier died in the fight but eventually the soldiers surrendered the mob of protesters now
threatened to march on pittsburgh pennsylvania if the tax was not repealed alexander hamilton
urged washington to immediately send troops to put down the rebellion but washington opted to
send negotiators or a peace envoy to discuss terms with the rebellion leaders on september
24th 1794 washington received a message from the peace envoy stating their mission had failed to
bring peace and that military assistance was needed george washington as commander-in-chief
assumed emergency power and assembled a 12 000 man militia washington himself put his military
uniform back on and led this militia to march to western pennsylvania to put down the rebellion
george washington is the only sitting president to ever actively lead troops in the field
october of 1794 washington led the militia into western pennsylvania
and the sheer size of the force with washington was enough to stop the rebellion washington
met with the leaders of the rebellion and they assured him that there would be no more violence
the whiskey tax that started the whole rebellion actually remained in effect until 1802 when under
thomas jefferson several federalist policies were repealed but the swift response by the federal
government to the rebellion is believed to be the first crucial test of the federal government's new
authority given to it under the young constitution it was seen as a success for washington and the
new young government so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you