This is one of those incidents in American history that don’t get talked about much, especially in High School history classes. In their defense, it is probably because it is a complicated subject, and class time is limited. But it is something that people who care about early American history should at least be aware of. Before I heard about the Whiskey Rebellion, I thought that everything right after our Constitution was ratified was all sunshine and roses. Right? But there were already some debts that were coming due, mostly by the federal government to the states, to pay for war. And soldiers needed their back pay. How does a government raise money? By instituting a tax. But what do you tax? Especially when “tea” is not the answer.
Alexander Hamilton thought he had the answer. He believed that taxing the production of whiskey would generate enough revenue to pay off the debt. But the problem, for the small whiskey producers in western Pennsylvania especially, was that the smaller producers might well be put out of business by this tax, while the larger distilleries would merely be inconvenienced. Many of these small farmers were former soldiers, and were not about to be taxed into bankruptcy, even by a government they had helped put into place. What started out to be a relatively small disruption in collecting an excise tax spiraled into what could have become a regional rebellion.
George Washington was convinced to lead an army to the area, in an attempt to quell the uprising. Meanwhile, moderates within the rebellion were trying to calm things down, but in some cases just made both sides mad at them. Once the rebels learned that a national army was marching toward them, many of the leaders disappeared, and most of the others signed loyalty oaths to federal government. Many people were arrested, a few were tried, but no one was convicted. However, the rebellion was quashed. Some farmers tried to evade the tax, which was repealed under the next administration.
If this was your family, how would you research them? If you had family in Western Pennsylvania, or western Virginia or Kentucky, right after the Revolution, they might have been impacted by this tax. I don’t think any records remain about the rank and file of this rebellion, but you could see if your family lived near any of the personalities mentioned in this book. Land records and any tax records you could find might be helpful. The fact that they lived in the area doesn’t prove they were part of the rebellion, but they would have certainly have been aware of it. Try searching any newspapers from the area as well. Also, if you had ancestors in New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, or Virginia, they might have been called out to suppress the rebellion.