The Whiskey Insurrection in Pennsylvania
The first test of the strength of the government founded on the new Constitution was made in Pennsylvania, in 1794, by a rebellion against the payment of the excise tax. But for the energy of the central authorities, this revolt might have risen to dangerous proportions. Seven years before, a revolt in Massachusetts against the payment of State taxes had been suppressed by the local militia. Now the strength of the government of the Union was put to a similar test. The first attempt to collect internal taxes by act of Congress was through a law, passed in 1791, which imposed a tax on distilled spirits. This law at once became unpopular, especially with the Democratic party. The collection of the tax was evaded, and the law was finally openly defied, in western Pennsylvania. A rebellion was inaugurated, which called for the first exercise of Federal authority. A large military force from the neighboring States was called out by the President for its suppression. The story of this earliest rebellion against the authority of the United States is well told in Hamilton's "History of the Republic of the United States of America, as traced in the writings of Alexander Hamilton," from which valuable work we extract a brief account of the event.
Efforts had been made to enforce the law by peaceful means, but these were violently resisted. The houses of collectors of the revenue were broken open by disguised men, and the collectors forced to resign their office. Later the insurgents grew more violent, tarring and feathering an inspector of the revenue, and finally organized a military association, declaring that they were amenable to State laws only, not to acts of the United States.]
NEW efforts being made to enforce the laws, the marshal of the district was fired upon by a body of armed men. On the following day, the sixteenth of July, an attack by a larger body was made on the house of the inspector-general, Neville, in the vicinity of Pittsburg, who, after having gallantly defended himself, was obliged to retreat. On applying to the magistrates and commandants of the militia, he was informed that, owing to the general combination of the people, the laws could not be executed.
The next day the insurgents reassembled in increased numbers, and renewed their attack upon the house of the inspector, who had called in a detachment from the garrison of Fort Pitt. It consisted of an officer and eleven soldiers. An effectual defence being rendered improbable from the inequality of numbers, the inspector retired. A parley took place under cover of a flag. The insurgents then required the troops to march out and ground their arms,--which being refused, a brisk firing ensued, and was continued until, the building being in flames, the few troops were compelled to surrender. One of the insurgents, formerly an officer of the Pennsylvania line, was killed; several of each party were wounded. The whole property of the inspector was consumed to the ground. The marshal was seized while coming to his aid. They were both ultimately compelled, in order to avoid personal injury, to descend the Ohio and by a circuitous route to proceed to the seat of government. After these excesses a convention of delegates from the insurgents of the four western counties of Pennsylvania and the neighboring counties of Virginia was called for the fourteenth of August at Parkinson's Ferry, to concert measures suited to the occasion.
The period had at last certainly arrived when, in the language of the President, "the government could no longer remain a passive spectator of the contempt with which the laws were treated."
A proclamation was issued by the President, commanding the insurgents to disperse, while quotas of militia were called for from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey. These Governor Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, who seemed to be in sympathy with the insurgents, hesitated to call out. He was, however, forced either to do so, or to break with the central government, and the militia volunteered in greater numbers than were wanted, even members of the "Society of Friends" joining the force. Persons of wealth, and officers high in the old army, were found mustering with the common soldiers in the ranks. General Lee, then Governor of Virginia, was appointed to the chief command. Meanwhile, the insurgents had robbed the mails, and issued circulars citing passages from letters of the inspectors, and declaring that their interests were threatened, and that every citizen must prepare to defend himself.
They were invoked as "citizens" of the "WESTERN COUNTRY to render their personal services with as many volunteers as they could raise, to rendezvous at Braddock's Field on the Monongahela, with arms and accoutrements in good order." An expedition was proposed, "in which you will have an opportunity of displaying your military talents, and of rendering service to your country."
The immediate object of this expedition was an attack on the garrison at Pittsburg and the seizure of its arms; the ultimate design, the establishment of a tramontane STATE, separate from and independent of the Union. .
In order to reach Braddock's Field, the militia of Washington County, warm in the party of the insurgents, were obliged to cross to the east side of the Monongahela. They advanced, clad in their yellow hunting-shirts, their heads bound with kerchiefs, the dress they wore in their conflicts with the Indians, which kept up, in this hardy frontier population, a temper little less than savage.