Whiskey Rebellion Dbq

The new nation in the 1790s, still in its infant state, had to formulate foreign policies and determine and strengthen the position of the nation in an international sphere. In this state, it was not capable of fighting another war with England. George Washington had devised the Proclamation of Neutrality of America from European conflicts. So, he sent a delegate, Chief Justice John Jay, to London to negotiate a bargain to avoid a war with England. The bargain, however, was one-sided in the favor of England. The treaty recognized England’s right to retain tariffs and granted English imports a supreme status in the United States. The United States was also responsible for the compensation of the war debt to English creditors. In return, the

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. Jefferson spread a lot of rumors about Washington and wrote a letter to a friend that eventually got published in which Jefferson ridiculed Washington without citing his name. To keep friendly relations intact, Jefferson felt an urge to assure Washington that he was not responsible for any rumors about the president being described as ‘quasi-senile’. Washington wrote a letter to Jefferson finding him guilty, denouncing his innocence and concluding with effective reasoning for his support of Jay’s Treaty. This marked an end to the friendship between Jefferson and Washington. (Ellis

This declaration by George Washington was historic and his address was an outstanding document living up to the expectations of the great man himself. But it also sprang up a lot of questions about the future of America. It was clear that there was only one of the two people worthy of holding presidency: John Adams or Thomas Jefferson. John Adams was the Vice President of United States from 1789 to 1796 but was largely ignored and his powers did not allow him to play an instrumental role in shaping the discussions in the House. Adams and Jefferson were one of the best friends and had spent a lot of their early life together in the struggle for independence. It was a great combination because both had different styles and together as a team they were perfect. Adams style was to confront, shout, rant and then embrace whereas Jefferson’s style was to evade, pretense and convince himself that all was well. Their relationship first took a hit when Jefferson negatively remarked on the Davila essay written by Adams. Adams was hurt and retaliated in an aggressive but affectionate manner. Jefferson ended the controversy and claimed that his remarks had been misconstrued. They were again on good terms, but Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail Adams, that Jefferson was a “man poisoned by ambition and his temper embittered against the constitution.” In 1793, when Jefferson