An Illustrated History of the USA

ANEWNATION

GeorgeWashingtonandthe

WhiskeyRebellion

In 1788GeorgeWash ing to nwaselected asthefirst

Pr esidento f the UnitedStates. N ew Yorkwas

the n the coun try's cap italcity.O n April30,1789 ,

Wash ing tonstoodonabakony there and sw ore

a solemnoath " topreser ve, protect anddefen d

the Cons titutio n ofth e U n ited States." When

thece remonyca metoan end he officiall ytook

co nt ro l o f th e n atio n 's govern me nt.

Wash ing to n believed th at political parties were

harmful.H e sai d late rthatit was "th e interestand

duty of a w isepeo ple to discourage "them.Even

so ,he favo reda stro ngfederalgovern men t , sohe

ten dedtogovernin a f ederalistm ann er.Theway

that he dealt with the " W hiskey Rebellion" o f

1794 wasanex am pleofthis.

The m ain crop g ro w n by farmers in weste rn

Pennsylvan ia wascorn.Some of this th eymade

into whis key. w hich th ey then sold. When the

fed eralgovern mentplaceda taxo n the whiskey

t he Pen nsylvaniafarmersrefusedto payit.They

burne d dow n the ho uses of th e federal tax

collectors. or "revenueagents." w ho tried to

make thempay.

Wash ing to n sent an army o f IS,tXX) men to

su ppo rt the rights ofthe federal g o vernm ent.

Faced by soldiers, the rebe lswenthomequietly.

The Whiskey Rebellion collapsed withoutany

fighting .The soldiersarresteda fewofthe leaders,

b utlaterthePr esiden t pardo nedth em.

Afterthis therewasno more o rg ani zedresistanc e

to paying th ew hiskey tax. Bu t man y frontier

farmerswent o n m aking w hi skey thatwasnever

taxed .They m ade itin st illshid den awayin the

w oo d s.in places th at reven ue agentsco uldn ot

find. Suc h illegal "moonsh ine"whiskey-so called

becau seit was often mad e atnight-continuesto

be m adetoth isday.

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fh eIYhi,kcy

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The law-making ,or"legislative,"powers o f t he

federalgo vern m en t weregiventoaCongress.This

was made upofrepresentativeselectedbyth e people.

Congresswas toconsis toftwopart s,theSena teand

th e I l o useofRepresentati ves. In the Senateeachstate

wouldbeeq ua lly represented,withtwo members,

whatev er th e sizeofits po pu lat ion. T henumberof

rep resentativesa statehadin the I lo useof

34

Rep r esentati ves ,however,wou ld dependupon its

populat ion.

Finally,th eConstitutionset upa Su premeCourtto

co ntro l the "j ud icial"parto f t henatio n 's

g o ve rn me n t.Thej obofth e Sup re meC o u rt w asto

make d ecisions inanydi sagreementsabout the

meaningofthe lawsandth e Co nstitu tio n.