14 oct 1794 año - Whiskey Rebellion

Descripción:

Autumn of 1794- In order to raise money for the new national government, A. Hamilton had convinced Congress to pass an excise tax on whiskey. On the frontier, farmers economized by distilling corn and rye into whiskey. It was then lighter for transporting to eastern cities and worth more, it even became a form of currency. For these pioneers, this tax was not small. When they began refusing to pay and protesting in SW Pennsylvania, President George Washington gathered an army of 13,000 men. Washington himself rode out to the site with this show of force as if to say: "this is the law of the government and you will pay it or we will make you pay it by force". The point was made.