The Whiskey Rebellion, also known as the Whiskey Insurrection, is an essential historical moment for the United States, which affected and contributed to the changes of the events happening in the 19th century. It might seem not so important for the history of the United States, but according to Washington, “the Whiskey Rebellion was the first formidable fruit of the Democratic Societies.” The reason which triggered the rebellion in 1794 was the “whiskey tax”, the first tax imposed on a domestic product in the history of the newly formed United States of America, imposed by the government and Alexander Hamilton as an attempt to collect enough money in order to pay the part of $52 million federal debt, accumulated through the Revolutionary …show more content…
In the summer of 1793, “rebels broke into the home of a tax collector named Benjamin Wells and forced him at gunpoint to resign his commission. General Neville continued to defy the protesters; he was burned in effigy.” Later, in the following year, the main event of the Whiskey Rebellion happened: there was a major confrontation at John Neville’s house “in which two people (albeit protesters) were killed, and Neville's home burned down. The Whiskey rebels broke criminal laws, including intercepting mail, destroying property and threatening individuals, as well as, of course, the nonpayment of taxes.” As a response to these events, on August 7th the presidential proclamation demanded the end of the resistance. Washington gave the power to Alexander Hamilton to organize troops in order to put down the rebellion. “In August the government called up 13,000 militia from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.” This was the first and only time when “a sitting American president ever led troops into battle. Washington abandoned the procession early, however, leaving Alexander Hamilton” as leader of the troops. As a result, “the rioters dispersed in the presence of the federal troops and bloodshed was