The Whiskey Rebellion

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The end of the American Revolution wasn’t the end of political turmoil in the United States. In the years after the Revolution, political parties formed and disbanded, rebellions started, and even celebrations became increasingly political. Each political faction had a different idea of what the Revolution meant and what the future of the country looked like. The conflicting views of American politics began to manifest in holiday celebrations, governmental affairs, and even rebellions.

The Whiskey Rebellion was created from many issues, not just the excise tax on whiskey. Farmers in western Pennsylvania blocked roads to prevent tax collectors from reaching them and to show their disdain for the taxes placed on the farmers that they couldn’t pay. Western Pennsylvanians felt democracy was being undermined by the state and nationals governments. They also believed the government favored the wealthy. Revolutionary veterans were angered over the payment of war debt IOUS. Most IOUs had been bought by the upper class, which had to power to demand they be paid in full, while they had paid the original owners of the IOUs a fraction of its value. The government obliged them by creating the Funding Act of 1790 to raise money to pay the war debt IOUs. To protest the unfairness of the government, a militia of about 9,000 troops gathered and began a peaceful march to Pittsburgh. Federalists were worried that what had happened to France (revolution and execution of their king) would happen to the United States if protest against the Funding Act and whiskey tax wasn’t put down. The protestors didn’t see themselves as insurgents like the Federalists did. They believed they were defenders of liberty. No force was needed by the government though. O...

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...Carolina Press, 1997), 129; Lecture notes, November 17, 2011; Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 129; Eric Nellis, The Long Road to Change: America’s Revolution, 1750-1820 (Ontario: Broadview Press, 2007), 221; Lance Banning, Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle, (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004), 225.

Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 144-147; Bouton, Taming Democracy, 246; Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 113; Bouton, Taming Democracy, 244-52.

Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 38; Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 71; Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 118-23; Lecture notes, November 29, 2011; Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 92-93; Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 205. Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 297.

Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 83-84; Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 166-68; Waldstreicher, Perpetual Fetes, 232-34; Bouton, Taming Democracy, 250.

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