Whiskey Winds Up Being Worth Rebellion
Back in the day – specifically July 1794 – the residents of the newly created United States of America didn’t much cotton to the notion of having their whiskey taxed according to the bright idea of then-treasurer Alexander Hamilton, so they did what they were best at – rebelled. When the fledgling U.S. government being led by its initial president George Washington, sent a tax collector to the ironically named town of Washington, Pennsylvania, to collect the whiskey tax from local distillers, well, let’s just say his visit didn’t go over very smoothly. He was tarred-and-feathered and his house was burned. By the time Washington had sent a 13,000-strong militia to quell the disturbance, the rebellion had mostly collapsed and everybody had already gone home and the whiskey tax was eventually repealed in 1801 when Thomas Jefferson – who opposed Hamilton’s actions – was elected president.
An official Whiskey Rebellion Festival to celebrate this brief whiskey fracas will be held in Washington, Pennsylvania from July 11-14, 2013.