ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA (1971)


(Vol. 23, Page 479)

WHISKY INSURRECTION

An uprising of farmers in western Pennsylvania in the summer of 1794 against the federal government, caused by efforts to enforce an excise tax on distilled liquors (enacted March 3, 1791). Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, had proposed the excise with two purposes in mind: to raise money to help pay the national debt and to assert the power of the federal government. The small farmers of the interior who commonly converted their surplus grain into whisky that they could easily transport and sell, resisted the tax. Leaders such as Albert Gallatin and Hugh Henry Brackenridge protested strongly and under popular agitators such as David Bradford, the farmers resorted to violence. They attacked federal revenue officers who attempted to collect the tax, and in some cases tarred and feathered them.

A law of June 5, 1794, designed to compel noncomplying distillers to pay the tax, touched off what appeared to be organized rebellion. In July about 500 armed men attacked and burned the home of General John Neville, regional inspector of the excise.

Some of Hamilton's followers saw in the insurrection a plot to destroy the federal government. Hamilton himself apparently saw it as the first opportunity to test the strength of the federal government against local defiance. Under authority granted by Congress, President George Washington on August 7, 1794, issued a proclamation ordering the rebels to return to their homes and calling for militia from Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

After negotiations between the federal commissioners and rebel leaders proved fruitless, Washington ordered some 13,000 troops into Pennsylvania's western counties. The troops occupied the region, captured some of the rebels and held them for trial. Two were convicted of treason and pardoned by Washington.

Many Americans, particularly members of the opposition Democratic-Republican (Democratic) Party, were appalled by the overwhelming force used by the government. They considered it unnecessary and feared that Hamilton sought to use the suppression of the insurrection as the first step to absolute power. To Federalists, however, the most important result was that federal authority had triumphed over its first rebellious adversary and had won the support of the state governments in enforcing federal law within the states.

(A. De C.)

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