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History Question: American Whiskey Rebellion

Started by T. WOLF, October 26, 2016, 11:42:05 AM

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T. WOLF

Is this the correct forum to ask questions about American history?
If not, could a moderator please move the thread to the correct location for me?


I have a question regarding the years immediately following the Revolutionary War and the formation of the Federal Government.

I have a few flags hanging up in my garage - and hung next to the Gadsden and the Betsy Ross there is this one:



To paraphrase wiki:
QuoteThe Whiskey Rebellion, also known as the Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791, during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. It became law in 1791, and was intended to generate revenue to help reduce the national debt. Although the tax applied to all distilled spirits, whiskey was by far the most popular distilled beverage in the 18th-century U.S. Because of this, the excise became widely known as a "whiskey tax". The new excise was a part of U.S. treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton's program to pay war debt incurred during the American Revolutionary War.The tax was resisted by farmers in the western frontier regions who were long accustomed to distilling their surplus grain and corn into whiskey. In these regions, whiskey was sufficiently popular that it often served as a medium of exchange. Many of the resisters were war veterans who believed that they were fighting for the principles of the American Revolution, in particular against taxation without local representation, while the U.S. federal government maintained the taxes were the legal expression of the taxation powers of Congress.

My interpretation of this history is that it was the first stand taken by the new citizens of the United States in defense of the Free Market. The flag references a moment in our history when the federal government began moving in a direction that was counter-productive to the freedom and independence that had just been achieved through revolution.  I think the flag stands in defense of a free market economy and serves as a cautionary warning of the dangers of government overreach.

I had a chance to speak briefly with forum member Roundballer about how some of our revolutionary war flags have been misappropriated by various political/social movements in recent years. I want to make sure that if I'm hanging this particular flag where neighbors can see, I am doing it with a good understanding of its historical relevance rather than my own personal interpretation. Does anyone have a perspective on this?

Thanks.
"There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leaders, and concerting measures in opposition to each other." ~John Adams 1780

Rev.357

#1
Great question and great flag. I don't know about either, but want to know. I'll check back to watch the cogent information amass.
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Grindstone

According to William Bennett in his book "America, the Last Best Hope", Washington called up 12,000 heavily armed militia from four states to firmly crush the rebellion. Most of the participants fled, or faded into silence, and the two who were captured and convicted of treason he later pardoned. Generally the president's actions were seen by the rest of the country in a positive light. It set a precedent that protest of federal law should occur primarily at the ballot box. Commentary of the day on the topic was later quoted by Lincoln as justification for his use of force during the Civil War, and the precedent has also been followed by Presidents Jackson, Eisenhower and Kennedy.

This leaves a lot of room for controversy. As the Wikipedia entry mentions, this is one of the events of a time when our first home grown political parties began to take shape. I believe however a true understanding of history requires more than a two dimensional view.

T. WOLF

Grindstone - thank you for the historical insight! Sorry I'm just coming across your reply from months ago - I forgot all about this one.

I'm going to continue hanging this flag. I don't see how it could be interpreted as offensive to anyone today.  It's an interesting conversation starter, if nothing else.
"There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leaders, and concerting measures in opposition to each other." ~John Adams 1780

TaosGlock

#4
Quote from: T. WOLF on October 26, 2016, 11:42:05 AM
Is this the correct forum to ask questions about American history?
If not, could a moderator please move the thread to the correct location for me?


I have a question regarding the years immediately following the Revolutionary War and the formation of the Federal Government.

I have a few flags hanging up in my garage - and hung next to the Gadsden and the Betsy Ross there is this one:



To paraphrase wiki:
QuoteThe Whiskey Rebellion, also known as the Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791, during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. It became law in 1791, and was intended to generate revenue to help reduce the national debt. Although the tax applied to all distilled spirits, whiskey was by far the most popular distilled beverage in the 18th-century U.S. Because of this, the excise became widely known as a "whiskey tax". The new excise was a part of U.S. treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton's program to pay war debt incurred during the American Revolutionary War.The tax was resisted by farmers in the western frontier regions who were long accustomed to distilling their surplus grain and corn into whiskey. In these regions, whiskey was sufficiently popular that it often served as a medium of exchange. Many of the resisters were war veterans who believed that they were fighting for the principles of the American Revolution, in particular against taxation without local representation, while the U.S. federal government maintained the taxes were the legal expression of the taxation powers of Congress.

My interpretation of this history is that it was the first stand taken by the new citizens of the United States in defense of the Free Market. The flag references a moment in our history when the federal government began moving in a direction that was counter-productive to the freedom and independence that had just been achieved through revolution.  I think the flag stands in defense of a free market economy and serves as a cautionary warning of the dangers of government overreach.

I had a chance to speak briefly with forum member Roundballer about how some of our revolutionary war flags have been misappropriated by various political/social movements in recent years. I want to make sure that if I'm hanging this particular flag where neighbors can see, I am doing it with a good understanding of its historical relevance rather than my own personal interpretation. Does anyone have a perspective on this?

Thanks.
Hamilton was a devious and controlling man who drooled at the prospect of how he could tax the colonies after the war. He was our first 'bankster" and many of his writings were to enrich federal power. He was one of the few framers of our documents that actually fought in the war so Washington respected him on many levels. So we had a perfect duo with 12,000 "troops" to squash any insurrection. Remember, a revolution/rebellion to the oppressed is an insurrection to the oppressors.  Also, the 1786 Shay's Rebellion in Boston left the new federalists with a wake up call. So from then on, as far as the feds were concerned, all "insurrections" must be quelled. Thus the vast number of troops would assure that our first post-Constitution "insurrection" or Whiskey Rebellion was crushed.  After fighting a bloody revolution over among other things, taxes and gun control, you can imagine how many folks felt about this.  The Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers are very insightful as well as the many books on Hamiltonian politics.
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Dracomeister

A good source is the book "The Whiskey Rebellion ... " by William Hogeland. It took me several weeks to read this one because I'd get so mad I'd have to put it down. It is true that History Repeats Itself. This book details the insider dealing in the Government at the time, how powerful special interests and "friends" of politicians were protected, and how the tax policy of the day was used as a punitive system to control the population. The parallels to current Governmental tax policy are frightening! Not an easy read but should be required.
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