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Causes And Effects Of The Whiskey Rebellion

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Thousands of farmers took up arms against the enforcement of a federal law calling for an excise tax on distilled spirits. It began in 1794 and is known as the Whiskey Rebellion. It signifies the largest organized resistance in opposition of federal authority between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Several of the rebels of the Whiskey Rebellion were prosecuted for treason in what were the first such legal proceedings in the United States (Whiskey Rebellion). The idea of taxation without local representation, was the main controversial argument behind the unfairness of the tax, which was exactly what the Americans had previously fought over. The Revolutionary War had accumulated a colossal national debt. In 1791, the House approved …show more content…

It began during the October of 1791 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most of the resistance to the tax was refusing to pay the tax. However, in more drastic cases, resistance came in the shape of violence, generally towards excise tax officers who were selected to supervise the collection of the tax. By threatening anyone who would house the officers, numerous people made certain that excise officers didn’t create an office in their community or town (The Whiskey Rebellion). Tax collectors were shot at, beaten, tarred and feathered, humiliated, intimidated, and terrorized. Whether voluntary or involuntary, many tax officers left towns not long after they arrived. Soon, widespread resistance break out in the western provinces of most states, becoming so large the tax went uncollected in 1791 and 1792. The excise tax lay largely uncollected in western Pennsylvania by 1794, respect for federal authority was waning, and the national debt was rising (Whiskey Rebellion). Finally, once the rebellion came to a climax in 1794, the federal government took action. George Washington issued a proclamation for the rebels to disperse, while simultaneously, militias were being gathered from a number of colonies. As a result that many of the drafted men didn’t wish to join, the draft led to even more resistance to the government. However, they eventually succeeded in raising a large militia led by General Harry Lee, a menacing force to the Rebels (The Whisky

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Before Shay's Rebellion the government was weak and unorganized and taxes and wages were unfair to the citizens. Farmers at the time were angry at the fact that they were loosing land just because of high taxes and the shortage of currency that was caused by the weak economic system. Shay's Rebellion consisted of the outraged farmers attacking courthouses because of all the unfairness that was being sent towards them. They gave more money for taxes and received low currency. The farmers as well rebelled against the "government" so they wouldn't foreclose their land.

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Independence can be expensive. While the American Revolutionary War very costly casualty-wise, it left a young, new nation with millions of dollars of domestic and foreign debt. This staggering debt, at the time, totaled 77.1 million dollars, 1.27 billion in today’s american dollar. Debt was divided throughout the colonies, since there was no umbrella organization, like the government, to pay off the tax as one tax rather than haphazardly dealing out twelve different recompenses. Alexander Hamilton feared this debt and drafted his plan of action to keep the debt at bay and to repay the tax in a simple way--or so it seemed.

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They all had an immense amount of debt due to the government not paying the veterans, and the taxes being increased for farming. This led to Daniel Shays becoming one of the numerous leaders of the rebellions. At first they tried to change the laws peacefully by having a petition for them stating that the veterans and farmers were being treated unfairly because these new laws, guidelines, and new legislature rules (legislature was controlled by merchant interest). Therefore since the legislature was controlled by eastern merchant interest the petitions were declined which caused even more issues for the veterans and farmers. Protests began to increase tremendously, in August 1786 the legislature was going to have a court meeting considering the many petitions against the rebellions, but Shays had formed a protest that marched to the courthouse and prevented them from having the court sitting.

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559 Words | 3 Pages

In a time when the Pontiac was and French and Indian war had ended, the Articles of confederation was established. The Articles had weakened the National government and a social revolution occurred. In this context new taxes were created and a significant amount of resistance arose. Many violent protests had occurred in the 1700s, such as, the march of the Paxton boys, Shays rebellion, and the whiskey Rebellion. One significant protest that occurred in 1763 was the March of the paxton boys.

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Despite their effort to create a new government different from Britain's following their Independence in 1776, America’s executive branch paralleled Britain’s. One of the main concerns many Revolutionists had with Britain’s government was that it had too much unregulated power. To avoid this, America wrote down its laws clearly in the Articles of Confederation and ratified it among the colonies in 1781, creating a decentralized government. Through practice, the colonists realized the Articles of Confederation needed tweaking; Massachusetts farmers saw the prices for crops plummet in 1786 but the government still demanded they their mortgages. Shay’s rebellion followed, in which the farmers insisted that it was the government’s job to assist

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The whiskey rebellion was a protest by many Americans who were against the new law that taxed whiskey. This law was put into place in 1791. The United States government was in debt from the war and they decided that taxing whiskey would slowly start eating away at Americas debt. George Washington was in his second year of presidency during 1791 although he wasn't the mastermind behind the whisky tax. Alexander Hamilton was the man behind this idea because he realized that Americans needed to do something to get out of their nearly eighty million dollars in debt they had accumulated from the war.

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Jefferson was frustrated and quoted a line from Washington’s favorite play and applied it to Washington: “a curse on his virtues, they’ve undone his country.” The event that changed Jefferson’s view of Washington was the Whiskey Rebellion, an uprising in four counties of western Pennsylvania protesting an excise tax on whiskey. According to Washington, the revolt was a direct threat to the federal government that called out a massive militia of thirteen thousand soldiers to suppress it. Jefferson remarked on Washington’s decision as a shameful repetition of Shay’s Rebellion and denounced Washington’s justification as “shreds of stuff from Aesop’s fables and Tom Thumb.” Jefferson had started orchestrating a campaign of vilification against Washington.

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Between 1786 and 1787 in the United States the Articles of Confederation were being tested by political issues. The main crisis was the Shays Rebellion led by Daniel Shays. The rebellion was a revolt against the state's taxing large amounts towards farmers causing them to foreclose. The farmers were unable to pay the high taxes and feared to lose their

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In the American Revolution, colonists formed militias and engaged in armed conflict against British forces. The use of arms was integral to the colonists' ability to resist British rule and protect their rights and liberties. Similarly, the Whiskey Rebellion, as a response to the whiskey excise tax, saw some rebel groups resorting to armed resistance. While the rebellion was primarily characterized by localized protests and sporadic violence, there were instances where armed groups clashed with authorities or engaged in acts of defiance. For example, in Chapter 3, Cornell states “In the Summer of 1794 a group of angry protestors marched to the home of tax collector General John Neville.

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For example, in the Whisky Rebellion many citizens were outraged about the taxes. The citizens soon became so mad they started to destroy tax inspectors

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The British government was not looking for the best of the people. They were only thinking about what they wanted; the government was not interested in what the people wanted so they decided to make decisions on their own, which resulted in changes that form the United States today. Because of this, they were justified in rebelling and declaring independence. One reason why the colonists decided to rebel and declare independence was because of taxation.

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1034 Words | 5 Pages

Shay’s Rebellions follow the Revolutionary war and how the US fell into a economic crisis, There were a lot of tension due to farmers losing their property to to debt collectors. In January 1787, him and his force were sent to a federal armory at Springfield but it failed due the artillery fire and how it lead to 4 people being killed and 20 people being wounded. Rebellion doesn’t always end up peaceful and it can also show no improvement at.

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661 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee it demonstrates the loss of innocence in many different situations. As Atticus has to take over Tom Robinson’s case, Jem and Scout witness the difficulties of defending a black man after being accused of raping a white woman. As a result, Scout and Jem lose their innocence throughout this trial. Over time Scout and a Jem realize that the world isn’t just in black and white, and that there’ll be different shades of gray in between. Children lose their innocence after experiencing traumatic events that force them to become more independent.

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Shay's Rebellion, the most prominent act of defiance toward federal authority, was a series of protests in 1786 and 1787 by American farmers throughout the states of New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Massachusetts against state and local governments of tax collections. Due to bad harvests, economic depression, and high taxes farmers faced the possibility of losing their farms. Although unsuccessful, the rebellion led by Daniel Shay, a former captain in the Continental army, alarmed politicians and ultimately called for a revision or replacement of the Articles of

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849 Words | 4 Pages

Around the time of these protests Americans were beginning to realize their rights as citizens and what their ideal government looked like. Settlers of the backcountry were rebelling against the federalists, attempting to acquire more representation in the government. The people of the backcountry were becoming more oppressed as Alexander Hamilton began to attempt to improve America’s economy with manufacturing and revenue taxes. The backcountry settlers organized violent protests, three of these rebellions being Shays’ Rebellion, Whiskey Rebellion, and March of the Paxton Boys.

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