1. Hamilton had proposed the tax in distilled spirits to raise revenue to pay down the national debt. It had soared after the federal government assumed debts incurred by states in the Revolutionary War as part of the grand bargain that led to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
2. The Whiskey Rebellion. In 1794, farmers from Western Pennsylvania rose up in protest of what they saw as unfair taxation and provided the new nation, and George Washington, with a looming crisis. In 1791, Congress approved a new, federal tax on spirits and the skills that produced them.
3. The farmers of western Pennsylvania, many of whom distilled whiskey and profited from its sale, proved outright hostile to the idea. In July of 1794, a force of disaffected whiskey rebels attacked and destroyed the home of a tax inspector.
4. The excise became known as the “whiskey tax.” Taxes were politically unpopular, and Hamilton believed that the whiskey excise was a luxury tax and would be the least objectionable tax that the government could levy. In 1790 Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton pushed for the federal government to take over that debt. He also suggested an excise tax on whiskey to prevent further financial difficulty. But protests against the new tax began immediately, arguing that the tax was unfair to small producers.
5. The rebels needed to be punished for their crimes. The rebels should be treated like national heroes. The rebellion proved that Hamilton’s plans were oppressive to common people.
