A large part of the economy in the early United States was agriculture. Shipping this harvest east was dangerous because of poor storage and dangerous roads. Farmers many times turned their grain into liquor which was easier to ship and preserve. Whiskey, made from corn, rye, and grain was some of the produce of the farmers. Whiskey also was sometimes used for trading in these days. That helped to make this tax unpopular in some of the farming areas.
The Whiskey rebellion was provoked by a tax on this whiskey and was the first serious challenge to federal authority. Collection of the tax met violent resistance, but when President Washington called out the militia, the rebellion collapsed. The events demonstrated to the United States government that a large authoritative figure would be met with skepticism and resistance met with local pride. In addition, the rebellion offered the government a glimpse of how the nation would respond to additional taxation methods. The rebellion …show more content…
While large-scale farmers easily were able to pay the financial strain of an additional tax, smaller farmers were less able to do so without becoming poor. American individuality against an unjust uprising that gave the new U.S. government its first opportunity to establish federal authority by military means within state boundaries, as officials moved into western Pennsylvania to quell an uprising of settlers rebelling against the liquor tax. The rebellion protested the taxation on the purchase of