The Whiskey Rebellion

 
 Proud?

 The Moneychanger

On 1 August 1794 the Whiskey Rebellion began in what was then the west of the United States, namely, western Pennsylvania. Washington's treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, wanted the federal government to assume the states' war debts (does this sound like there were speculators hiding in the woodwork somewhere?) and found a national debt, so he promoted an excise on distilled spirits. Western farmers, many of whom had fought in the Revolution, saw themselves right back in their pre-revolutionary position. It was worse because the only way they could convert their corn crop to something salable and transportable was to distill it.

In 1792 the protestors tarred and feathered a revenue collector. Other potential tax collectors took the hint, & the tax wasn't collected in 1791 and 1792. The rebellion spread to the western counties of the other Appalachian states, including Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Nobody would collect the tax in Kentucky or prosecute evaders. Things continued to escalate. Opposition grew. Even those who complied with the tax had trouble. On August 1, 7,000 people gathered near Pittsburg. *Radicals were talking of seceding. Goaded by Hamilton, Washington led a militia army of 12,950 to suppress the rebellion. In October 1794 the rebellion collapsed in the face of the invasion. 

When Jefferson assumed office the hated whiskey tax was repealed, never to reappear until Lincoln needed to raise money to wage his genocide against the South. Since that time, whiskey-making has been a sort of avocation in many parts of the South, where the Whiskey Rebellion ain't over yet. (Y'all can find a splending Murray Rothbard article about the Whiskey rebellion at http://bit.ly/14JmX9k

*Washington, no different than Eisenhower and Patton who led the attack on the Bonus Army.  Tyrants all.

March Of The Bonus Army (Same Treatment Today?)