Alexander Hamilton: Between Sovereignty And Anarchy

Throughout the history of mankind alcohol has been the right hand of many individuals from emperors to working class. It has won its place in daily lives through meals, medicines, religions, and exchanges. Alcohol has become the “nourishing and intoxicating” aspect of human life. In occasions such as the American Revolution and the Whiskey Rebellion, one drink has come above all to save America that’s whiskey. Its creation led to certain disputes but brought major benefits within the United States. Alexander Hamilton was the first to influence the financial policy within the United States throughout the Federalist Era, who repaired the damage made by others before him. When Whiskey rose to power in American society, it came to many that this

Patrick Griffin, a professor at the University of Notre Dome contributed in the book Jeffersonian America: Between Sovereignty and Anarchy. Griffin explained the aftermath of the war and how anarchy and sovereignty in the United States grew within the government. The Federalist and Anti-Federalist accepted the violence only at their convenience, but what was not acceptable was going “against their fellow party supporters” (13). Griffin argued that the only way the United States was able to be developed, was through corruption within the government and giving benefits to the political parties. While on the other hand William Hogeland author of “The Whiskey Rebellion”, analyzed the success Hamilton and the federalist had on the economy, as well as how Whiskey changed America. President Washington had finally appointed Hamilton as head of the Secretary of Treasury in 1789, to fix the damages the United States had. There were three debts to be repaid from the war; foreign, federal, and state. The program Hamilton installed for the society effected the individuals who mainly lived on the west side of the country instead of the east. Hogeland, as well expands on the long process Hamilton went through to succeed with the policy as well as the obstacles he and the federalist had to

Hamilton and his fellow associates believed in benefiting only who were the elite, what Hamilton did not count on was the people standing up for what they believed in. Throughout the west individuals believed that no democratic government had the right to tax on any beverage, in especially on whiskey. This special beverage came from the Scottish, where just like any other drink, it was distilled using a pot still. As for in their country there was no need to excise tax a mere drink. The democratic government and Hamilton thought it was not “a necessity but a luxury item consumed by those who could afford, by definition, to pay the tax” (Hogeland William “Whiskey” 63). Once the whiskey arrived to the United States, the government noticed the consumption of whiskey was extraordinary. Iain Gately’s book, Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, he proves how alcohol affected the society. Whiskey spiraled out of control. Money came in quickly every day. Men and women bought whiskey and even those who were elite saw the fortune it was creating for the distillers. Hogeland a major contributor to Founding Finance: How Debt, Speculation, Foreclosures, Protests, and Crackdowns Made Us a Nation insights the value of whiskey within the economy and how it reached places where coins were not even seen. The West lived