THE WHISKEY TAX OF 1791
George Washington’s new Federal Government assumed Revolutionary War debts of the 13 States as part of compromises leading to adoption of the US Constitution in 1789. To help pay the resulting national debt, Congress used its constitutional authority in 1791 to pass the first nationwide internal revenue tax: an excise tax on distilled spirits. This was a direct tax on those who produced whiskey and other alcohol spirits and varied from six to 18 cents per gallon.
Commercial distillers in the eastern US generally accepted the new tax since they could pass it on to their customers. But smaller producers in Pennsylvania to the west of the Appalachian and Allegheny mountains, then the Nation’s frontier, opposed it. They had to travel great distances over mountains along poor dirt roads to get their grain to market. Many of them distilled grain into whiskey to make it more easily transportable. Since these frontiersmen were usually cash-poor, they also used whiskey to pay for goods and services they needed. They quickly came to resent the new tax on what was not only their main crop but also their “currency.”
THE PEOPLE REVOLT
Whiskey tax payments had to be made in cash to Federal revenue officers appointed to each county. Many western distillers simply refused to pay; others took a more aggressive stand. They tarred and feathered several whiskey “revenuers” and threatened to beat those who offered them office space or housing. Many western counties thus never had a resident Federal tax officer.
President Washington issued a proclamation in 1792 condemning interference with operation of the laws of the United States. Nevertheless, violent opposition continued to grow, especially in southwestern Pennsylvania, the location of up to one-fourth the Nation’s stills. Sporadic protests, shootouts, killings, and burning of homes and barns marked the summer of 1794 as anti-whiskey tax violence spread along the frontier.
THE GOVERNMENT RESPONDS
As more than 5,000 armed rebels gathered at Braddock’s Field in western Pennsylvania during the last week in July, President Washington met with his Cabinet and the Pennsylvania governor. Washington issued a proclamation calling on rebels to disperse and retire peaceably, and sent a delegation to meet with rebel leaders. Unable to find a peaceful solution, the delegation reported military force had become necessary. Washington subsequently met nearly 13,000 militiamen obtained by his Secretary of War from governors of Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and personally led them on a month-long march west across the Allegheny Mountains.
The militia entered western Pennsylvania in October and sought out whiskey rebels. By mid-November they had arrested 150, including 20 prominent leaders, and organized opposition to the tax soon evaporated. Those arrested were ultimately pardoned and released, and all those who had taken part in the rebellion received a general pardon.
THE WHISKEY TAX LEGACY
Though the whiskey tax was never very successfully collected, the rebellion tested the new Constitution and the Federal Government’s authority. Successful suppression of the uprising helped confirm the supremacy of Federal law. Soon after election of Thomas Jefferson in 1802, Congress repealed the distilled spirits tax and all other internal Federal taxes. The US Government relied solely on import tariffs for revenue until the War of 1812.