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“George Washington grappled with the problem” of taxes, Obama said.

If the Wee Wee weren't such a moron, his teleprompter would know what happened when George Washington over-grappled with the problem of taxes.

The problem: How to pay off Revolutionary War debt.

Washington's solution: Impose a special levy on distilled spirits. At that time, it was about the only way farmers on the frontier could transport their crops to market to sell for cash.

The consequences: The farmers revolted. Washington was forced to take to the field as commander of the U.S. Army -- one of only two times this has happened to date (the other being Madison during the War of 1812). Washington fought a losing guerrilla war; whiskey distillation was driven across the border from Pennsylvania to the then independent territories of Kentucky and Tennessee; according to most historians, the cost of enforcement exceeded the amount of revenues collected.

George Washington: His New Nation’s Largest Whiskey Distiller

Washington began producing whiskey at the suggestion of his plantation manager, who was Scottish. The new distiller first began by purchasing a copper still, but his first batch was so successful that he bought three more stills and built a larger distillery.

In 1798, the year before his death, Washington’s distillery produced 11,000 gallons of whiskey and produced a profit of $7,500. That was an enormous sum of money over 200 years ago.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/20070531150031.html

Washington’s reconstructed distillery is now a national distilling museum and the only historic site in the United States showing the distilling process from crop to finished product, which it does with costumed personnel. It’s now open to the public seven days a week from April through October.