The Whiskey Tax of 1791: Insurrection and Early Government Debt

Pennsylvania went through an insurrection period after the American Revolution. Several battles kept reoccurring within the west dealing with the government, such as the Shays Rebellion, which in the end the government brushed it off as mere small violence. Hamilton and his fellow associates believed “the monies raised would facilitate a properly managed national debt and ‘render a national blessing,’” (Krom 95). Cynthia Krom is a major contributor to The Whiskey Tax of 1791 and The Consequent Insurrection: A Wicked and Happy Tumult, in which she evaluates the funding of early government debt, operations, and also the procedures of finance and social aspects of the Whiskey Tax. Through her research, the operations of the government evolved

For this, individuals believed that no democratic government had the right to tax any beverage. Although it seemed harmful to people’s health in the eyes of scholars, this special beverage came from the Scottish where just like any other drink it was distilled using a pot still. For them and the rest of the country it seemed perfectly fine to a point that there was no need to excise tax on a mere drink. Hogeland emphasized that even if the drink was lethal many Americans would still consume it as if it were water. Therefore, it seemed merely incorrect to tax on a distilled beverage, when it was a common consumption of the working class. The democratic government thought it was not only a must, but it was acceptable. Once the whiskey arrived to the United States the government noticed the consumption of whiskey was extraordinary. Now, what other way to pay off a debt when you have thousands of customers consuming the beverage of past time. Iain Gately’s book Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol proves how alcohol affected the society. Whiskey spiraled out of control, most of the money went to those who lived in Forks or Ohio. The Federalists noticed how much money it was bringing to the table and since the government could not raise the tax on land any higher, it seemed efficient to add a new tax which became the first federal income tax in the United