Question

Create a simple illustration showing the government’s response to the whiskey rebellion

Answer 1

Farmers west of the Appalachian mountains found it cheaper and easier to turn their grain into whiskey than to transport the grain to markets in the big cities. Making whiskey is profitable for the farmers and soon the government began taxing the whiskey. The farmers and whiskey makers protested and Congress lowered the tax. But the farmers and whiskey makers refused to pay and they attacked any tax collectors who came trying to collect the tax. Hamilton argued the taxes must be collected and the protesting must stop. Jefferson said sending troops against the farmers was wrong. George Washington eventually decided to lead an army to stop the rebellion and make sure the taxes were paid and collected.

Answer 2

Answer and Explanation:

The Whiskey Rebellion was a violent uprising of distillers and farmers in western Pennsylvania in 1794. The uprising was a protest the distillers and farmers made against the federal government’s enactment of a whiskey tax.

Before the time of the rebellion, the foundation for what would later incite the rebellion, was laid in 1790 when the Treasury Secretary (Alexander Hamilton) at the time suggested that federal government excise tax on whiskey. The president (George Washington) was not in support of the Treasure Secretary’s suggestion of a whiskey tax, and it didn’t take long before protests started against the new whiskey tax; people intimidated tax collectors and refused to pay whiskey tax. Then after years of conflict between the distillers and farmers, and the whiskey tax collectors/federal government, the president opted to send military troops, and continued using them until he saw proof that the rebellion submitted permanently to the authority of the federal government.