Posted on 05/10/2010 5:32:51 PM PDT by 2aberro
The Whiskey Rebellion George Washington's Proclamation calling Out The Militia To Occupy the Western Counties of Pennsylvania As It Appears In the August 11, 1794 issue of Claypoole's Daily Advertiser
Angered by an excise tax imposed on whiskey in 1791 by the federal government, farmers in the western counties of Pennsylvania engaged in a series of attacks on excise agents. The tariff effectively eliminated any profit by the farmers from the sale or barter of an important cash crop, and became the lightning rod for a wide variety of grievances by the settlers of the region against the federal government.
While citizens in the east did not find it difficult to abide by the concept that individual states were "subservient to the country," people west of the mountains were less accepting of decisions made by the central government.
The rebel farmers continued their attacks, rioting in river towns and roughing up tax collectors until the so-called "insurrection" flared into the open in July of 1794 when a federal marshal was attacked in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Almost at the same time several hundred men attacked the residence of the regional inspector, burning his home, barn and several outbuildings. Pittsburgh was another scene of disorder by enraged mobs
(Excerpt) Read more at earlyamerica.com ...
The tax was repealed ~7 yr. later.
The VAT Rebellion should make the Whiskey Rebellion look like a polite walk in the park.
Whiskey Rebels, the bastard brothers of the Tea Partiers.
If they hadn't Kentucky Bourbon wouldn't be nearly as exquisite as it is.
L
The Whiskey Rebellion had nothing to do with the moral issue of the evils of Demon Rum. Instead, the real rub was the influence of the privileged class on the coast vs. the common folk of the heartland.
The coastal cities of Boston, New York, Charleston, et al prospered through trade with Europe via the sea lanes, and with the hinterlands via the system of rivers on the Eastern Seaboard. The limits of this economic zones was defined by the fall of the various rivers that defined the boundary between the coastal plains and the piedmont. Beyond the falls, goods had to travel to market via the roads of the day. This was much more expensive than the movement of goods by river craft. For the grain farmers of the piedmont and the mountains, the economic solution was to reduce the high weight and volume of their grain crop into something that could be more economically transported and could demand a higher price at market. That product was grain alcohol - whiskey.
The powers that be imposed a tariff on whiskey because they had the political power to do so, and because it would help restore the economic advantages that they enjoyed over the backwoods settlers.
The analogy today is Chuck Schumer and his Wall Street puppeteers like Goldman Sachs; Obama and his Chicago thug enforcer Raum Emmanuel; Barney Frank and his left wing buds at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Some things never change.
Hats Off To The Whiskey Rebels !!! Now where’s that bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle...
Good analogy,,, thanks!
Please tell me where that is today?
Even President Washington wasn’t perfect. This was a terrible decision on his part.
“The VAT Rebellion should make the Whiskey Rebellion look like a polite walk in the park.”
I seriously doubt that anybody now a days will institute any sort of armed rebellion against the Feds. It would be cut down before it even got past the talking stage (just look at the MI militia for a good current example). More than likely you’ll see what happens in most third world counties start happening here which is a thriving black market and massive tax avoidance. That in turn will be used as an excuse to implement even more control by the feds (who are kind of front running this with the new 1099 requirement in the healthcare bill that will bury small businesses in paper work).
I think that Greece is a good example of where we are heading, massively entitled public servants (1/3 of the Greek economy) and welfare recipients against an ever shrinking, taxed to death, productive class. Also, all these people that think we’ll go John Galt alla Ayn Rand should look at what’s happening there. It’s not the producers that will bring the system to a halt but all the leeches of society rioting when their freebies have been cut off and destroying what little productive capacity they have left in one big temper tantrum.
good analysis
I think we’re well on our way there already
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