The Whiskey Rebellion caused many controversies not yet seen for the young United States government. By following this link go into detail about the Whiskey Rebellion. Why do you think there was so much controversy on this new tax?
Use this link read Washington's proclamation of the Whiskey Rebellion.
In January 1791, Alexander Hamilton taxed the production of whiskey. Hamilton did this so the tax could help America get out of debt. By 1794, farmers in Pennsylvania started a rebellion called the Whiskey Rebellion. The Western Pennsylvania farmers lashed out against tax collectors and burned down buildings because of this tax. They felt that the tax was wrongly targeting a demographic that relied on crops like corn, rye, and grain to get their profits. Some farmers had to change their grain into liquor which was a lot easier to ship and preserve because of poor storage and dangerous roads. President George Washington wanted to end this rebellion quickly before any other rebellions would form. In 1792, Washington issued a national proclamation to the rebellion, but the protests were violent. In July 400 whiskey rebels set John Neville’s home on fire because he was the regional tax collection supervisor. Washington organized a militia of 12,950 men and led them to Western Pennsylvania. The calling of the militia had ended the Whiskey Rebellion. I think this new tax on whiskey caused so much controversy because whiskey was very popular and it was the safest drink because it could not be contaminated very easily, unlike water and milk. Also because producers of whiskey felt like this law was wrongly targeted. This is why there was a lot of controversy on whiskey tax. (230)
ReplyDeleteShay's rebellion challenged the Articles of Confederation, now it was the Constitution's turn. January 1791. Hamilton had just introduced a new tax on whiskey and it seemed harmless enough and was passed despite the Anti-federalists complaints. What Congress didn't expect was the reaction from Western Pennsylvania. The people there formed a rebellion. Even though the tax was just supposed to help get rid of war debt, farmers saw the tax as targeting a demographic that relied on crops for money which they usually stored in whiskey for the road. Despite Washington's tries to solve the matter peacefully by 1794, this rebellion questioned the strength and stability of the United States government. They set fire to the house of the state tax collector supervisor, John Neville. Washington knew he had to take a different road. So he got almost 13,000 soldiers and headed to Western Pennsylvania. Just the threat scared all rebels away. This became known as the Whiskey Rebellion. I personally think the controversy was because some farmers were going into financial debt because they were having more outcome than income while wealthier farmers weren't having many problems. Later Washington released a proclamation about this talking about the rebellion and "a repeal of the laws aforefaid(aforesaid)."(206)
ReplyDeleteIn January of 1791, Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s Secretary of Treasure, proposed the idea to tax whiskey. Since of course milk and water could get contaminated easily. However, Congress failed to see the many opposing sides to this by the Americans living on the frontier of Western Pennsylvania. By 1794, the Whiskey rebellion practically pushed Washington and the United States militia westward to stop all of the rebels. But WAIT! That is NOT THE WHOLE STORY. By 1791, America was in a huge amount of debt caused by the Revolutionary War. Hamilton intended to use the tax to lessen this financial burden. Even though there was resistance from Anti-Federalists like Thomas Jefferson, Congress passed the legislation! When western farmers heard this, they refused to pay the tax! Western farmers felt the tax was an abuse of federal authority that was wrongly targeting a demographic that relied on crops such as corn, rye, and grain to earn a profit! Washington wanted to settle this peacefully, issuing a proclamation admonishing their resistance of the "operation of the laws of the United States for raising revenue upon spirits distilled within the same." Unfortunatley, the rebellion became violent and Washington got his militia together. By the time the militia got there, the men were gone. About 150 men were tried for treason. By 1802, Thomas Jefferson undid the tax on whiskey. Thanks to Washington, we survived the Whiskey Rebellion. (234)
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ReplyDeleteI think the reason there was so much controversy was that people in the West needed it to make money. Another reason is it was harder for them to have enough to pay for the tax in the west. (184)
Deletei think there was so much controversy over the tax because it was one of the main things people bought and drank. it was cleaner than a lot of water and milk, and it tasted pretty good. it also helped with some illnesses, but the people who mass produced it, were extremely angry because the tax made it a lot more expensive to create. Congress failed to stop the rebellion, that alexander Hamilton started because he came up with the tax. so Washington and 1000 or so troops marched all the way across Pennsylvania and put out the rebellion, showing that the new plan of govt. gave power and they would use it if need be. farmers still didn't like the tax, but they knew that they couldn't stop it, so they didn't pay and rebelled. this was put out by Washington, but still small riots here and there came up. about 100 or so people were hung because of the rebellion, and that was the end of the Whiskey rebellion.
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The Whiskey Rebellion was started because Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, decide to pass the Whiskey Tax. The Whiskey Tax was made to lessen the US’ financial debt. But then Southerners got mad because they made the most whiskey. And they thought that this was a federal abuse of their power because placing a tax on a demograph that relied on corn and rye and things like that. People got so mad that that they set fire to John Neville’s home because he was a tax collector. But then the local militia came in and everybody dispersed. Then George Washington pardoned a couple of people , then it ended. Again George Washing saved the day.(117)
ReplyDeleteThe reason i think this was so controversial, is because most people bought this instead of water because it was cleaner that it and it tasted better. The sick people bought this because his help with some illnesses. And the people who were buying it got upset because the price went up on it because of the tax on it. Alot of people didnt follow the tax rule on this they just maid it and sold it but wouldn't let a lot of people know he was making it, the farmers got mad because if they didn't have a good year on other crops they always had corn and corn was the main ingredient to making whisky (117)
ReplyDeleteThe whiskey rebellion was cause because of a new tax on whiskey. I think the controversy over this tax was mainly because people thought that if there was a tax on it it might end up like England's tea tax. The difference was parlement was in England but now we had congress in America. The whiskey rebellion was shutdown with out even firing a single shot. The rebels saw Washington pull up and said oh crap. Washington basically said stop and that was the end of the rebellion. The thing that he knew was that this couldn't be a fair thing because unlike parlement we had our government in America. (109)
ReplyDeleteA tax was put into place by President Washington's secretary of treasury, Alexander Hamilton. This taxation on whiskey was proposed in January 1791. But it didn't take long for the farmers of the frontier in western Pennsylvania to become angry with this tax. By 1794 the rebellion known as the Whiskey Rebellion was threatening our nascent United States and President Washington. The reason the farmers of western Pennsylvania was angry with this tax is because they relied heavily on their crops. and it was a lot cheaper to turn their crops into liquor when shipping it to eastern Pennsylvania. So when the tax was placed on whiskey it made shipping more expensive. So a group of nearly 400 farmers went to Pittsburgh and burned the house of John Neville, a tax collector. So President Washington sent a militia of 12,950 men to Pittsburgh to stop this. But by the time they got there the rebel farmers had dispersed. So in the end the United States had got past its first big test. (169)
ReplyDeleteI think there was so much controversy over this matter for number one, is Shays' Rebellion. Because Shays pretty much got away with his rebellion, they thought they could do the same when they couldn't. Thomas Jefferson said," A little rebellion every now and then is a good thing." But this was not one of those times because the Government needed money to get out of debt but the people did not want to pay. In 1792 George Washington who, also had to pay taxes on his whiskey too, was against the rebellion so he passed a national proclamation saying,"operation of the laws of the United States for raising revenue upon spirits distilled within the same.", and,"not to abet, aid, or comfort the Insurgents aforesaid, as they will answer the contrary at their peril." This was kind of like a test for america and we passed! The rebellion was ended and everyone needed to understand just because you pitch a fit doesn't mean you will get your way!(181)
ReplyDeletethe reason for the indifference on the topic of the Whiskey Rebellion is that the people thought that they would be able to revolt against their government because it had been done before and the people that did that did not get punished very harshly. so the people saw this as an act of favoritism by the government. the quote of Thomas Jefferson didn't do any good for the government's case. when one says that rebellion is good that doesn't sit well with the people and they take that as their opportunity to rebel and get what they want of the government. the people take that if a person that is to be leading our country says that it is basically okay to rebel. these people that rebelled weren't the only people that had to pay this tax. everyone in the country did they are the only ones that rose a stink about it.
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ReplyDeleteThe whiskey rebellion was made to get the United States out of war dept. Western Pennsylvania reaction was very surprising to congress. Some individuals refused to pay tax. They view this as another unfair policy that negatively affects people on the frontier. They felt like it was an abuse of federal authority. In 1792 Washington issued a national proclamation admonishing western for their resistance to the operation of the laws of the united state for raising revenue upon spirit distilled within the same. In 1794 the protest became violent. In July nearly 400 whiskey rebels near Pittsburgh set a house on fire and that house belonged to John Neville and he was the regional tax collection supervision.(117)
ReplyDeleteAlexander Hamilton was put in charge by Washington to fix America’s financial debt (from the Revolutionary War). One of the solutions Hamilton had in mind was the Whiskey Tax. Of course, when the people of Western Pennsylvania were alerted of the new tax, they decided to claim it another “eastern elite” dictating policy and, therefore, didn’t want to pay the tax. A group of rebels united because they made profit on whiskey, and taxing whiskey decreases profit. But Washington, being the strategic man he is, organized a militia of 12,950 men after passing a national proclamation reproaching any of the western citizens who were going against the U.S. laws. However, when the militia reached Pittsburgh, the rebels had vanished. Only two men were actually found guilty, but Washington pardoned them. After all, he liked liquor himself.
ReplyDeleteI think the main reason why there was so much said “controversy” in this rebellion because whiskey was THE THING back then. It was a “safe drink” (as in lacked a large amount of bacteria). And even Washington loaded on whiskey. The point is, when this tax came about, that would be like for us now-days to have a tax on something like coke (which would be different from sales tax). But in the end, Washington stood his ground and the federal government took care of everything. (233)