History

Today in History 201 we focused on the causes of the whiskey rebellion.  Alexander Hamilton implemented a revenue tax on distilled whiskey and spirituous liquor. This angered many farmers because they used their excess crops to make these sprits. The tax hurt all farmers, but the small farmers in western Pennsylvania were particularly upset. They sent petitions to the state and federal government, along with refusal to pay the revenue tax. When this did not work the farmers took matters into their own hands. The farmers in the western part of Pennsylvania were of the poorer class. They had just settled on the land in hopes of making profit. The taxes incorporated by Alexander Hamilton made it hard for the farmers to increase profits. The farmers did not have enough money to buy the distilled sprits from other countries.