Polarized Times: George Washington and the Whiskey Rebellion
In a time before income tax, the new federal government, which began operating in 1789, faced the question of how to pay the bills for the new nation. The previous government, operating under the Articles of Confederation, lacked the power to levy and taxes. It had borrowed money to fund the Revolution, and had acquired a debt of $54 million in debt. The state governments had amassed an additional $25 million in debt. To pay this combined debt, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton hoped to build a financial system that would bind the nation together through a strong central government. In his "Report on Public Credit", he proposed that the new Congress consolidate the state and national debts into a single debt that would be funded by the federal government. Congress approved these measures in June and July of 1790.
Now President George Washington and his Treasury Secretary had to find a source of government revenue to pay off this debt. Hamilton concluded that import duties, which were the government's primary source of revenue, had been set as high as feasible, and that this would be insufficient to meet debt payments. To cover the shortfall he proposed passage of an excise tax on domestically produced distilled spirits. This would become the first tax levied by the American government on a domestic product.
At the time, whiskey was by far the most popular distilled beverage in the nation and as a consequence, the excise became known as the "whiskey tax." Washington and Hamilton knew that taxes were politically unpopular, but Hamilton believed that the whiskey excise was a luxury tax and was the least objectionable tax that the government could levy. He had the support of a number of social reformers, who wanted to see the tax as a deterrent to raise public awareness about the harmful effects of alcohol.
The Whiskey Excise Act became law in March 1791. George Washington fixed the various revenue districts, appointed the revenue supervisors and inspectors, and fixed their compensation in November 1791. As predicted, the tax met with some resistance, most notably in western Pennsylvania. Farmers in the region were among the largest distillers of whiskey and the saw the new excise as unfairly targeted westerners. Many Pennsylvania farmers supplemented their incomes by operating small stills. These farmers distilled their excess grain into whiskey, which was easier and more profitable to transport than grain. The whiskey tax made western farmers less competitive with eastern grain producers. Whiskey was also used as a medium of exchange and many people paid for their purchases in whiskey.
There were two methods of paying the whiskey excise: paying a flat fee or paying by the gallon. Large distillers produced whiskey in volume and could afford the flat fee, so they were taxed at a lower rate. Western farmers owned small stills and did not operate them year-round at full capacity, so they ended up paying a higher tax per gallon. To make matters worse, whiskey sold for considerably less on the cash-poor Western frontier than in the wealthier and more populous East, so the tax ate up a larger proportion of the producer's profit. The law required all stills to be registered, and those cited for failure to pay the tax had to appear in Federal Court rather than local courts. The only Federal courthouse was in Philadelphia, on the east side of the state.
From the beginning, the Federal government had difficulty collecting the whiskey tax. Many small western distillers simply refused to pay the tax. Federal revenue officers were threatened or assaulted. Western Pennsylvanians also complained that the Federal Government was not adequately protecting them from raiding Indian tribes, and was also failing to secure the use of the Mississippi River for commercial navigation from Spain. Unless these issues were addressed, westerners did not feel well served by their national government.
Some western Pennsylvanians organized conventions to call for repeal of the law. Opposition to the tax was strongest in four southwestern counties: Allegheny, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland. The convention sent a petition for redress of grievances to the Pennsylvania Assembly and the U.S House of Representatives, both located in Philadelphia. When nonviolent resistance proved unsuccessful, things became ugly. On September 11, 1791, a tax collector named Robert Johnson was tarred and feathered by a disguised gang in Washington County. Another man sent to serve court warrants for Johnson's attackers was whipped, and was then also tarred and feathered.
In 1792, Hamilton urged Washington to use military action to suppress resistance to the tax. Attorney General Edmund Randolph advised that there was insufficient evidence to legally justify such a reaction. Later that year, in August 1792, a second convention was held in Pittsburgh to discuss resistance to the whiskey tax. A militant group known as the Mingo Creek Association dominated the convention. They took control of the local militia, created their own "court" to prevent enforcement of the law. In response, Hamilton sent Pennsylvania tax official George Clymer to western Pennsylvania to investigate. His report convinced Washington and Hamilton that action was required. Washington signed a proclamation on September 15, 1792, published in many newspapers, which threatened federal action. Federal tax inspector for western Pennsylvania General John Neville was threatened with violence by the Mingo Creek Association, who also threatened those who cooperated with federal tax officials. Many of those who failed to heed the warnings had their barns burned or their stills destroyed.
Resistance to the excise tax continued through 1793. In June, Neville was burned in effigy by a crowd of about 100 people in Washington County. On the night of November 22, 1793, men broke into the home of tax collector Benjamin Wells in Fayette County. He was forced at gunpoint to surrender his commission. President Washington offered a reward for the arrest of the assailants, but this was unsuccessful.
In May of 1794, federal district attorney William Rawle issued subpoenas for more than 60 distillers in Pennsylvania who had not paid the excise tax. Under the law then in effect, distillers who received these writs would be obligated to travel to Philadelphia to appear in federal court. Congress modified this law on June 5, 1794, allowing excise trials to be held in local state courts. Federal Marshal Lenox delivered most of the writs without incident. On July 15, in Allegheny County, warning shots were fired Lenox at the Miller farm, south of Pittsburgh. The next day, July 16, about 30 Mingo Creek militiamen surrounded General Neville's fortified home of Bower Hill. They demanded the surrender of the federal marshal, whom they believed to be inside. Neville responded by firing a gunshot that mortally wounded Oliver Miller. The rebels opened fire but were unable to dislodge Neville. The rebels retreated to gather reinforcements. The next day, the rebels returned to Bower Hill, numbering almost 600 men, commanded by Major James McFarlane, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Neville had also received reinforcements, 10 U.S. Army soldiers from Pittsburgh under the command of Major Abraham Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick had Neville leave the house and hide in a nearby ravine. David Lenox and General Neville's son Presley Neville also returned to the area and were captured by the rebels. Women and children were allowed to leave the house, and then both sides began firing. After about an hour, McFarlane called a ceasefire. As McFarlane stepped into the open, a shot was fired from the house, and McFarlane was killed. The enraged rebels then set fire to the house and Kirkpatrick surrendered. McFarlane and one or two other militiamen were killed; one U.S. soldier died from wounds received in the fight. Kirkpatrick, Lenox, and Presley Neville were kept as prisoners, but later escaped.
McFarlane became a martyr to the case of tax resistance. On July 26, a group headed by David Bradford robbed the U.S. mail as it left Pittsburgh. On August 1, about 7,000 people gathered at Braddock's Field. At Braddock's Field, there was talk of declaring independence from the United States and of joining with Spain or Great Britain. Radicals flew a specially designed flag with six stripes, one for each county represented at the gathering. A convention was held on August 14 of 226 whiskey rebels from the six counties, held at Parkison's Ferry (now known as Whiskey Point) in present-day Monongahela. The convention appointed a committee to meet with the peace commissioners who had been sent west by President Washington.
President Washington was confronted with an armed insurrection in western Pennsylvania. He proceeded cautiously, not wanting to alienate public opinion. His cabinet recommended the use of force, except for Secretary of State Edmund Randolph. Washington sent commissioners to meet with the rebels while raising a militia army. Hamilton began publishing essays under the name of "Tully" in Philadelphia newspapers, denouncing mob violence in western Pennsylvania and calling for military action. On August 7, Washington issued a presidential proclamation announcing, with "the deepest regret", that the militia would be called out to suppress the rebellion. He commanded insurgents in western Pennsylvania to disperse by September 1.
The three commissioners sent by Washington, , all of them Pennsylvanians, met with a committee of the rebels. On September 24, 1794, Washington received a recommendation from the commissioners, recommending the use of force to quell the rebellion. On September 25, Washington issued a proclamation summoning the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia militias into service and warned that anyone who aided the insurgents did so at their own peril. The state militias were called up by the governors of New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The federalized militia force was composed of 12,950 men, a large army at the time. Washington left Philadelphia (which at that time was the national capital) on September 30 to review the progress of the military expedition.
Washington met with the western representatives in Bedford, Pennsylvania on October 9 before going to Fort Cumberland in Maryland to review the southern wing of the army. He then placed the army under the command of the Virginia Governor Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee, a hero of the Revolutionary War. Washington returned to Philadelphia, while Hamilton remained with the army as civilian adviser.
The insurrection collapsed as the federal army marched west into western Pennsylvania in October 1794. Some of the most prominent leaders of the insurrection, such as David Bradford, fled westward. It took six months for those who were charged to be tried. Most were acquitted for a variety of reasons. The only two convicted of treason and sentenced to hang were John Mitchell and Philip Wigle. They were later pardoned by Washington. The Federal militia arrived in Philadelphia on Christmas Day.
Most of the accused had eluded capture. While violent opposition to the whiskey tax ended, political opposition to the tax continued. Opponents of the tax later supported the candidacy of Thomas Jefferson and helped him defeat President John Adams in the election of 1800. By 1802, Congress repealed the distilled spirits excise tax and all other internal Federal taxes. Until the War of 1812, the Federal government would rely solely on import tariffs for revenue, which quickly grew with the Nation's expanding foreign trade.
The Washington administration's suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion met with widespread popular approval. However the whiskey excise remained difficult to collect, and that many westerners continued to refuse to pay the tax. The events contributed to the formation of political parties in the United States. The whiskey tax was repealed after Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party came to power in 1801.
Now President George Washington and his Treasury Secretary had to find a source of government revenue to pay off this debt. Hamilton concluded that import duties, which were the government's primary source of revenue, had been set as high as feasible, and that this would be insufficient to meet debt payments. To cover the shortfall he proposed passage of an excise tax on domestically produced distilled spirits. This would become the first tax levied by the American government on a domestic product.
At the time, whiskey was by far the most popular distilled beverage in the nation and as a consequence, the excise became known as the "whiskey tax." Washington and Hamilton knew that taxes were politically unpopular, but Hamilton believed that the whiskey excise was a luxury tax and was the least objectionable tax that the government could levy. He had the support of a number of social reformers, who wanted to see the tax as a deterrent to raise public awareness about the harmful effects of alcohol.
The Whiskey Excise Act became law in March 1791. George Washington fixed the various revenue districts, appointed the revenue supervisors and inspectors, and fixed their compensation in November 1791. As predicted, the tax met with some resistance, most notably in western Pennsylvania. Farmers in the region were among the largest distillers of whiskey and the saw the new excise as unfairly targeted westerners. Many Pennsylvania farmers supplemented their incomes by operating small stills. These farmers distilled their excess grain into whiskey, which was easier and more profitable to transport than grain. The whiskey tax made western farmers less competitive with eastern grain producers. Whiskey was also used as a medium of exchange and many people paid for their purchases in whiskey.
There were two methods of paying the whiskey excise: paying a flat fee or paying by the gallon. Large distillers produced whiskey in volume and could afford the flat fee, so they were taxed at a lower rate. Western farmers owned small stills and did not operate them year-round at full capacity, so they ended up paying a higher tax per gallon. To make matters worse, whiskey sold for considerably less on the cash-poor Western frontier than in the wealthier and more populous East, so the tax ate up a larger proportion of the producer's profit. The law required all stills to be registered, and those cited for failure to pay the tax had to appear in Federal Court rather than local courts. The only Federal courthouse was in Philadelphia, on the east side of the state.
From the beginning, the Federal government had difficulty collecting the whiskey tax. Many small western distillers simply refused to pay the tax. Federal revenue officers were threatened or assaulted. Western Pennsylvanians also complained that the Federal Government was not adequately protecting them from raiding Indian tribes, and was also failing to secure the use of the Mississippi River for commercial navigation from Spain. Unless these issues were addressed, westerners did not feel well served by their national government.
Some western Pennsylvanians organized conventions to call for repeal of the law. Opposition to the tax was strongest in four southwestern counties: Allegheny, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland. The convention sent a petition for redress of grievances to the Pennsylvania Assembly and the U.S House of Representatives, both located in Philadelphia. When nonviolent resistance proved unsuccessful, things became ugly. On September 11, 1791, a tax collector named Robert Johnson was tarred and feathered by a disguised gang in Washington County. Another man sent to serve court warrants for Johnson's attackers was whipped, and was then also tarred and feathered.
In 1792, Hamilton urged Washington to use military action to suppress resistance to the tax. Attorney General Edmund Randolph advised that there was insufficient evidence to legally justify such a reaction. Later that year, in August 1792, a second convention was held in Pittsburgh to discuss resistance to the whiskey tax. A militant group known as the Mingo Creek Association dominated the convention. They took control of the local militia, created their own "court" to prevent enforcement of the law. In response, Hamilton sent Pennsylvania tax official George Clymer to western Pennsylvania to investigate. His report convinced Washington and Hamilton that action was required. Washington signed a proclamation on September 15, 1792, published in many newspapers, which threatened federal action. Federal tax inspector for western Pennsylvania General John Neville was threatened with violence by the Mingo Creek Association, who also threatened those who cooperated with federal tax officials. Many of those who failed to heed the warnings had their barns burned or their stills destroyed.
Resistance to the excise tax continued through 1793. In June, Neville was burned in effigy by a crowd of about 100 people in Washington County. On the night of November 22, 1793, men broke into the home of tax collector Benjamin Wells in Fayette County. He was forced at gunpoint to surrender his commission. President Washington offered a reward for the arrest of the assailants, but this was unsuccessful.
In May of 1794, federal district attorney William Rawle issued subpoenas for more than 60 distillers in Pennsylvania who had not paid the excise tax. Under the law then in effect, distillers who received these writs would be obligated to travel to Philadelphia to appear in federal court. Congress modified this law on June 5, 1794, allowing excise trials to be held in local state courts. Federal Marshal Lenox delivered most of the writs without incident. On July 15, in Allegheny County, warning shots were fired Lenox at the Miller farm, south of Pittsburgh. The next day, July 16, about 30 Mingo Creek militiamen surrounded General Neville's fortified home of Bower Hill. They demanded the surrender of the federal marshal, whom they believed to be inside. Neville responded by firing a gunshot that mortally wounded Oliver Miller. The rebels opened fire but were unable to dislodge Neville. The rebels retreated to gather reinforcements. The next day, the rebels returned to Bower Hill, numbering almost 600 men, commanded by Major James McFarlane, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Neville had also received reinforcements, 10 U.S. Army soldiers from Pittsburgh under the command of Major Abraham Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick had Neville leave the house and hide in a nearby ravine. David Lenox and General Neville's son Presley Neville also returned to the area and were captured by the rebels. Women and children were allowed to leave the house, and then both sides began firing. After about an hour, McFarlane called a ceasefire. As McFarlane stepped into the open, a shot was fired from the house, and McFarlane was killed. The enraged rebels then set fire to the house and Kirkpatrick surrendered. McFarlane and one or two other militiamen were killed; one U.S. soldier died from wounds received in the fight. Kirkpatrick, Lenox, and Presley Neville were kept as prisoners, but later escaped.
McFarlane became a martyr to the case of tax resistance. On July 26, a group headed by David Bradford robbed the U.S. mail as it left Pittsburgh. On August 1, about 7,000 people gathered at Braddock's Field. At Braddock's Field, there was talk of declaring independence from the United States and of joining with Spain or Great Britain. Radicals flew a specially designed flag with six stripes, one for each county represented at the gathering. A convention was held on August 14 of 226 whiskey rebels from the six counties, held at Parkison's Ferry (now known as Whiskey Point) in present-day Monongahela. The convention appointed a committee to meet with the peace commissioners who had been sent west by President Washington.
President Washington was confronted with an armed insurrection in western Pennsylvania. He proceeded cautiously, not wanting to alienate public opinion. His cabinet recommended the use of force, except for Secretary of State Edmund Randolph. Washington sent commissioners to meet with the rebels while raising a militia army. Hamilton began publishing essays under the name of "Tully" in Philadelphia newspapers, denouncing mob violence in western Pennsylvania and calling for military action. On August 7, Washington issued a presidential proclamation announcing, with "the deepest regret", that the militia would be called out to suppress the rebellion. He commanded insurgents in western Pennsylvania to disperse by September 1.
The three commissioners sent by Washington, , all of them Pennsylvanians, met with a committee of the rebels. On September 24, 1794, Washington received a recommendation from the commissioners, recommending the use of force to quell the rebellion. On September 25, Washington issued a proclamation summoning the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia militias into service and warned that anyone who aided the insurgents did so at their own peril. The state militias were called up by the governors of New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The federalized militia force was composed of 12,950 men, a large army at the time. Washington left Philadelphia (which at that time was the national capital) on September 30 to review the progress of the military expedition.
Washington met with the western representatives in Bedford, Pennsylvania on October 9 before going to Fort Cumberland in Maryland to review the southern wing of the army. He then placed the army under the command of the Virginia Governor Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee, a hero of the Revolutionary War. Washington returned to Philadelphia, while Hamilton remained with the army as civilian adviser.
The insurrection collapsed as the federal army marched west into western Pennsylvania in October 1794. Some of the most prominent leaders of the insurrection, such as David Bradford, fled westward. It took six months for those who were charged to be tried. Most were acquitted for a variety of reasons. The only two convicted of treason and sentenced to hang were John Mitchell and Philip Wigle. They were later pardoned by Washington. The Federal militia arrived in Philadelphia on Christmas Day.
Most of the accused had eluded capture. While violent opposition to the whiskey tax ended, political opposition to the tax continued. Opponents of the tax later supported the candidacy of Thomas Jefferson and helped him defeat President John Adams in the election of 1800. By 1802, Congress repealed the distilled spirits excise tax and all other internal Federal taxes. Until the War of 1812, the Federal government would rely solely on import tariffs for revenue, which quickly grew with the Nation's expanding foreign trade.
The Washington administration's suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion met with widespread popular approval. However the whiskey excise remained difficult to collect, and that many westerners continued to refuse to pay the tax. The events contributed to the formation of political parties in the United States. The whiskey tax was repealed after Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party came to power in 1801.