course material

1. The Whiskey and Shay’ s Rebellions
The Whiskey and Shay’ s RebellionsWhen Revolution Hits Home: The causes and effects of
the whiskey and Shays’ rebellionThere are those people that feel some taxes imposed on
them are not warranted. These ideas shared by many individuals in a society could lead to
an uprising. The Whiskey and the Shay’ s rebellions both occurred in the same manner. The
Whiskey rebellion saw an uprising from the tax payer’ s dissatisfaction with the
government’ s unfair imposition of a whiskey tax. Western Massachusetts was hit by a wave
of farm foreclosures uprising against a number of grievances including taxation.The
Whiskey and Shay’ s RebellionsThe Whiskey rebellion began in Four Western Pennsylvania
counties when they effused to pay an excise tax on whiskey (Rothbard pr. 4). The Secretary
of treasury, Alexander Hamilton, had proposed this tax in the assumption of the various
states’ public debts (Slaughter 56). Western Pennsylvanians decided not to pay this tax and
as the government continued to press for the cooperation of the citizens in paying this tax,
protests and demonstrations arose. When the matter escalated to a point of roughing up of
tax collectors, the then president, George Washington, called up and led a 13, 000-man army
to suppress the insurrection (Rothbard pr. 5).However, the idea of four countries resisting
to pay the tax is a popular view and it is contended that the entire American ‘ back-
country’ did not pay tax on whiskey. This rebellion is similar to the revolution since the
taxes are a major cause and initial resistance did not involve violence. A group of farmers
that had lost their farmers as a result of mortgage foreclosures and tax delinquencies were
led by a revolutionary war veteran known as Daniel Shays in rebelling against the
Massachusetts state legislature. The rebellion did not start with violence but rather
involved meetings carried out in Boston and petitions to Massachusetts government.The
escalation of the uprising came about after the Supreme Court ruled that eleven members of
the movement were seditious, riotous and disorderly (Shay’ s rebellion pr. 2). It is at this
point that Shays raised an Army to march in protest. This rebellion differs a little from the
revolution as the causes are many but they both started out without violence.Causes and
Outcomes of the rebellionsThe main cause of Whiskey’ s rebellion was Alexander
Hamilton’ s financial program which required an excise tax to be paid on whiskey (Whiskey
Insurrection/rebellion pr. 7). The back-country farmers considered this tax to violate their
right to life, liberty and property. Another cause that had been building up dissatisfaction
among the citizens was the profitability of whiskey. Also whiskey began to be used by poor
farmers as a form of currency due to the inflammatory trends from states printing paper.
The Revolutionary war debts led the federal government to pass taxes in order to repay the

2. debts. These taxes were an extra burden to the farmers who were already paying high state
taxes. An outcome of the rebellion is that the tax was stopped. Also the government
presented a figure of strength and power as it suppressed the insurrection.The main cause
of the Shay’ s Rebellion was loss of farms through mortgage foreclosures and tax
delinquencies experienced by poor back-country farmers. The Massachusetts state
legislature to issue paper money was vehemently opposed by the uprising calling for debtor
relief laws. Another cause was the weak central government which did not have enough
power to stimulate national economy. Paying the farmers who served in the military in
worthless paper money was also another cause as they were nevertheless required to pay
state taxes in gold or silver. The other cause was the issuance of paper money by the
Massachusetts state legislature in order to pay debts incurred in the revolutionary war. The
outcomes of the Shay’ s rebellion were the introduction of debtor relief laws by the state
legislature and the constitutional convention of 1786.Impacts of the rebellions on
AmericaThe opposition of the federal excise tax program played a part in the emergence of
a Democrat-republican Party. The Jeffersonian ‘ revolution’ of 1800 was also realized as a
result of the whiskey rebellion. Jefferson repealed the whole Federalist excise tax program
as part of his revolution in his first term as president. The rebellion also led the government
to avoid imposing internal excise taxes on the Americans for a very long time. Other than
the War of 1812, internal excise taxes were not imposed until the American constitution
was transformed by the North through the centralization of the nation (Hull 110).The
weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation were exposed as a result of the Shay’ s
rebellion. The government’ s weakness was exposed as it couldn’ t control the national
economy, coin money, fight for the removal of trade restrictions against the country and
control commerce. Due to this exposure, five states met in 1786 with the agenda of revising
the articles of confederation. The states decided on a complete overhaul and created the
constitution which resulted in a stronger central government. This government was now
able to restrain the mob from engaging in violence but limited its power to the liberties of
the people.The rebellions and their significance in the development of the United StatesThe
willingness and ability of the government to enforce its laws was seen in the whiskey
rebellion. This willingness and ability was practiced irrespective of its great distance from
its center of power. The platform that was set by the government then, continues to be
upheld to the present time. True political parties also emerged from the opposition of the
federalist excise tax program marking the beginning of the great political debate that is
evident even today although not in entirety (Demand Media, pr. 1). The debate was
concerned with the American Revolution’ s meaning and what being an American truly
means.Shay’ s rebellion paved way to the creation of a constitution (U.S Constitution Online
pr. 4). This constitution was created during the convention aimed at revising the Articles of
Confederation. Revision of the articles of confederation was recommended after the Shay’ s
rebellion exposed its weaknesses. The constitution addressed most of the issues raised
concerning the weaknesses of the government. The rebellion also raised concerns over the
reliability of the confederation government to defend its citizens from outside attack. The
response to an internal conflict was not as swift as would have been expected therefore it
was realized that a strong central government was necessary. The constitution created has

3. been amended and modified over time but America still uses a constitution therefore
indicating the importance of the rebellion in shaping the present America.America in the
1780s and 1790sThese rebellions exposed America in the 1780s and 1790s to be a country
with a suffering economy, in debt and with a weak government. Revolutionary war
liberalized America but left economic strains in the country (Richards 130). The country
was also struggling to implement the laws adopted after the revolution. There was also a
very big class difference whereby the poor farmers joined the movement to stop excise tax
while wealthy individuals and tax collectors did not understand why the farmers were
demonstrating. The government, however, proved stern in its bid to implement the law and
suppressed the insurrection.The 21st century is not immune to such a rebellion. Issues such
as the health care reform, cigarette taxes and military occupation of the Middle East have
been debated for a very long time. Some demonstrations take place when citizens feel that
they are not heard but the demonstrations are peaceful. Shay’ s rebellion started out in a
similar manner but the Supreme Court ruling that classified eleven of the movement leaders
as rioters led to the escalation of the matter. Were the contentious issues in America to
escalate, the rebellion would be far greater than in the past due to the improved means of
communication which would facilitate swift spreading of word.ConclusionThe whiskey and
Shay’ s rebellions came about sometime after the American Revolution. The whiskey
revolution was a movement opposing the excise tax imposed by the government and which
burdened the farmer enormously. The Shay’ s rebellion arose as a result of the farmer’ s
loss of farms through tax delinquencies and mortgage foreclosures. Both rebellions
impacted on the country in different ways at the time of rebellion and in the development of
America to the present date. Works Cited“ Causes and Effects of the Whiskey Rebellion” .
Demand Media. 2011. 11Oct. 2011 “ Events Affecting the Constitution” . U.S Constitution
Online. 11Oct. 2011 Hull, Mary E. Shays’ Rebellion and the Constitution in American
History. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers. 2000.“ Reasons for Dissension and the Insurrection
(Democracy or Aristocracy)” . Whiskey Insurrection/Rebellion. 11Oct. 2011 <
http://www.whiskeyrebellion.info/rebell.htm>Richards, Leonard L. Shays’ s Rebellion: The
American Revolution’ s Final Battle. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press,
2003.Rothbard, Murray N. “ The Whiskey Rebellion” . Rothbard Murray Archives. 2005.
11Oct. 2011 < http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard1.html>“ Shay’ s
Rebellion: Wars and battle, 1786-1787” . United States History. 11Oct. 2011 <
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h363.html>Slaughter, Thomas P. The Whiskey
Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1988.