The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

Jay’s Treaty 161

rationally, and Jefferson could
say contemptuously, “Hamilton
is panick struck, if we refuse our
breech to every kick which Great
Britain may choose to give it.”
This, of course, was an exaggera-
tion, but Hamilton was certainly
predisposed toward England. As
he put it to an English official,
“we think in English.”
In fact, Jefferson never lost his
sense of perspective. When the
Anglo-French war erupted, he rec-
ommended neutrality. In the Genet
affair, although originally sympa-
thetic to the young envoy, Jefferson
cordially approved Washington’s
decision to send Genet packing.
Hamilton perhaps went a little too
far in his friendliness to Great
Britain, but the real danger was
that some of Hamilton’s and
Jefferson’s excitable followers
might become so committed as to
forget the true interests of the
United States.

1794: Crisis and Resolution

During the summer of 1794 several
superficially unrelated events
brought the partisan conflicts of
the period to a peak. For the better
part of two years the government
had been unable to collect
Hamilton’s whiskey tax in the
West. In Pennsylvania, mobs had
burned the homes of revenue agents, and several men
had been killed. Late in July, 7,000 “rebels” converged
on Pittsburgh, threatening to set fire to the town.
They were turned away by the sight of federal artillery
and the liberal dispensation of whiskey by the fright-
ened inhabitants.
Early in August President Washington was
determined “to go to every length that the
Constitution and laws would permit” to enforce
the law. He mustered an enormous army of nearly
13,000 militiamen. This had the desired effect;
when the troops arrived in western Pennsylvania,
rebels were nowhere to be seen. The expected
Whiskey Rebellionsimply did not happen. Good
sense had triumphed. Moderates in the region (not
everyone, after all, was a distiller) agreed that even
unpopular laws should be obeyed.

More important, perhaps, than the militia in paci-

fying the Pennsylvania frontier was another event that

occurred while that army was being mobilized. This

was the Battle of Fallen Timbers in Ohio near present-

day Toledo, where the regular army troops of Major

General “Mad Anthony” Wayne won a decisive vic-

tory over the Indians. Wayne’s victory opened the way

for the settlement of the region. Some 2,000 of the

whiskey tax rebels simply pulled up stakes and headed

for Ohio after the effort to avoid the excise collapsed.

Jay’s Treaty

Still more significant was the outcome of President

Washington’s decision to send John Jay to England to

seek a treaty settling the conflicts that vexed the rela-

tions of the two nations. The British genuinely wanted

Gulf of Mexico

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

iM

ss

iss

ipp

iR

.

Mis

sis

sip

pi

R.

L.S

uperior

L.

Mi

ch

iga

n

L.H

uro

n

L.Eri

e

L.

Ontario

Ohi

oR

.

MARYLAND

CONN.

DELAWARE

GEORGIA

KENTUCKY

(1792)

VERMONT

(1791)

(Also claimed by

England)

TENNESSEE

(1796)

Ceded by Georgia

to U.S. 1802

MISSISSIPPI

TERRITORY

MAINE

(Mass.)

MASS.

FRENCH

LOUISIANA

NORTHWEST

TERRITORY

1787

SPANISH

FLORIDA

NEW

HAMPSHIRE

NEW

JERSEY

NEW

YORK

NORTH

CAROLINA

PENNSYLVANIA

R.I.

SOUTH

CAROLINA

VIRGINIA

Ft. Michilimackinac

Detroit

Ft. Niagara

Ft. Ontario

Oswegatchie

Pointe-au-Fer

Dutchman’s Point

AP

PA

LA

C

H

IA

N

M

O

U

N

TA

IN

S

Posts held by the

British, 1783–1795

CANADA

The United States and Its Territories, 1787–1802In 1804 Georgia’s cession became part of

the Mississippi Territory. The seven British forts were evacuated as a result of Jay’s Treaty (1795).