On August 26, 1794, President George Washington writes to Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, Virginia’s governor and a former general, regarding the Whiskey Rebellion, an insurrection that was the first great test of Washington’s authority as president of the United States. In the letter, Washington declared that he had no choice but to act to subdue the “insurgents,” fearing they would otherwise “shake the government to its foundation.”
The Whiskey Rebellion of August 1794 was the product of growing discontentment, which had been expressed as early as 1791, of grain farmers who resented a federal tax imposed on their distillery products. As growers threatened federal tax collectors with physical harm, Washington at first tried to prosecute the resistors in the court system. In 1794, however, 6,000 men angry at the tax gathered at a field near Pittsburgh and, with fake guillotines at the ready, challenged Washington and the federal government to disperse them.
In response, Washington issued a public proclamation on August 7, giving his former Revolutionary War aide-de-camp and current Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton the power to organize troops to put down the rebellion. In his letter to Lee on August 26, Washington noted that the general populace considered the insurrection with “universal indignation and abhorrence” and said that he otherwise would not have authorized such a heavy-handed response. Washington knew that the nation, having only recently violently overthrown the tyrannical English king, was in a delicate state and did not want to appear as an equally despotic president. He waited to see if the insurgents would back down; they did not.
According to biographer Joseph Ellis in His Excellency, George Washington, the aging president mounted his horse on September 30 to lead a force of 13,000–larger than any American army amassed in one place during the Revolution–to quell the uprising. (The act of mounting his war horse was brief and largely symbolic; Washington made most of the journey by carriage.) Lee joined Washington and the army on its march to Pennsylvania. This was the first and only time a sitting American president ever led troops into battle. Washington abandoned the procession early, however, leaving Alexander Hamilton, the true mastermind of the military response to the insurrection, in charge of the final approach to Pittsburgh.
The rioters dispersed in the presence of the federal troops and bloodshed was averted. In the aftermath, Washington reported to Congress that although he had agonized about the decision and intended to uphold the constitutional right to protest unfair tax laws, the insurrection had to be put down or the survival of the young democracy would have been in peril. Congress applauded his decision, but Washington’s former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was in temporary retirement at his Monticello estate, viewed Washington’s decision to call out troops against fellow citizens as a dire threat to republican ideals and an abuse of presidential power. The uprising highlighted a growing division in early American politics which, by the end of Washington’s second term, pitted rural, agricultural interests, led by future Presidents Jefferson and James Madison, against the pro-industrial urban interests, represented by Hamilton and John Adams, and gave rise to the two-party political system.
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I hope someone with access links a story about Washington’s post- presidential years distilling booze. The farmers refused Federal goverment control.
They instantly turned into terrorists.
Washington became(perhaps deep down always was)the govt. monster he so rightly hated and fought/defeated.
“Washington noted that the general populace considered the insurrection with “universal indignation and abhorrence” and said that he otherwise would not have authorized such a heavy-handed response.”
They all claim to speak on behalf of the “general populace” as they act against the very body they claim to represent.
Nothing has changed.
“The uprising highlighted a growing division in early American politics which, by the end of Washington’s second term, pitted rural, agricultural interests, led by future Presidents Jefferson and James Madison, against the pro-industrial urban interests, represented by Hamilton and John Adams, and gave rise to the two-party political system”
And it’s been that way ever since.
Isn’t there more to this story? Correct me if I am wrong but weren’t the farmers and distillers veterans of the Revolutionary War that never got paid?
Yes, theses distillers/farmers were mostly vets of the Rev. War. This was one of the biggest reasons Washington went forth to reason with them. There was a solid camaraderie amongst Washington and his old troops. Major James MacFarlane, Rev War vet and adopted “leader” of the rebellion, at least.
Whichever side of the coin a person wishes to ally themselves with, I tend to believe it was another necessity (tax) in paying down the bankers debts.(Belgium?) Washington warned of foreign entanglements in a speech (Farewell Address?) which to this day may be misconstrued as being militarily involved elsewhere but I rather think, Washington knowing first-hand, that the warning leaned more towards borrowing. Beyond the two party system and all other short-comings of Washingtons and my country, this one failure to heed stout advice has been our greatest unraveling.
That`s my two cents.
Thanks, Two.
Whenever you want my defense of Hamilton, just ask.
Tyranny from day one.
Yep, tyranny from day one. Did I read “unfair tax laws” in the above article. Hamilton wasn’t only the mind behind the brutal crushing of the dissidents he was also the master mind behind the unfair taxation. Oh, and by the way, this same Hamilton is also the one who got us started on having a central bank.