THE JYEIISREL' Insuizrixtion. - 157 -- -- I Tion at a Time 11-Henevery Bushel Was Needed for the CHAPTER SV
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Digital Scan by Fay-West.com. All Rights Reserved. THE JYEIISREL' INSUIZRIXTiON. - 157 -- -- I tion at a time 11-henevery bushel was needed for the CHAPTER SV. i i subsistence of the troops in the field, fighting for lib- THE WHISKEY IMSURI'LECTION. I erty. A large part of the proceeds collected at that I time was appropriated to the " depreciation fund," '(THEWhiskey Insurrection7' is a term which has j, created in this State (as in others, in pursuance of a '0 of "lawful and via- I resolUtioll been usually aI'~lied a by Congress in liSO) for tile pur- lent acts committed (principally in 17% but to pose of ,.iring to oficersand of the ~~~~l~- some extent in previous years) by inhabitants of the ;I tionary army an additional compensation, a measure counties of Washington, Alle$~eny, Weatmoreland, j rhich was manifestly just and necessary, because the These illegal and insurrectionary acts and Fayette. due of their pay had been greatly lessened by the embraced an armed resistance on several occasions to Lepreciation of the Continental currency. the esecution of certain State and national lams inl- After the close of the Revolution, laws imposing posing an escise tax on distilled spirits and stills :xcise duties on distilled spirits remained on the used for the manufacture of such spirits, a measure 'ennsylrania statute-books until 1791, but they were ~hichwas generally and peculiarly obnosious to the lot generally enforced, and were exceedingly unpop- people of these counties, particularly because they ilar, especially in the vestern and sonthwestern por- regarded it as calculated to bear with especial and .ions of the State. During the period mentioned discriminating severity on the industries of this sec- some seven or eight years prior to their repeal in tion as compared with otller parts of the country. .791), though the escise laws of the State were by The first excise tax imposed in the province of lo means generally enforced, the collection of the Pennsylvania was that authorized in an act of As- aevenue tax on spirits was several times attempted, sembly passed Jlarch 16, lGS4, entitled " Bill of Aid 3ut ne\-er successfully executed in the southwestern and Assistance of the Government." As it was found' :ounties. Such an attempt mas rnade in Fayette, to be ob-jectionxble to the sense of tlie people, that Westmoreland, and Washington Counties in the year part of the bill relating to the collection of escise 1786, and the consequences resulting to an excise duties was repealed som aftm~ards,and no similar s5cer in the last-named county are shown in a letter legislation wns had for more than half a century. In written by Dorsey Pentecost-o the Esecutive Coun- 1788 the provincial dssernbly passed "An act for cil of Pennsylvania, as follows: layin2 an escise on wine, rum, brandy, and other spirits,"' but this, Iike its predecessor of 165% was I' KAS~ISGTONCOUSTY, IGth April, 17%. r:ceired with such unmistakable disfavor that it re- " GESTLENES: mained in force only a few months from the com- " About ten days ago :t Xr. Graham, Escise officer nlencement of its operation. Ag:lin, in IIay, 17-14, for the three western Counties, was, in the exercise of the Assembly renewed the measure, "for the pur- his office in this County, seized by a number of People pwe of providing money without a general tas, not and Treated in the following manner, viz. : His Pis- only to purchass arms and anlmunition for defense, tols, which he carried before him, taken and broke to -but to answer such demands as might be made upon pieces in his presence, his Comnliasion and all his the inhabitants of the province by his Xajesty for papers relating to his Office tore and thrown in the distressing the public enemy in America." "This mud, and he forced or made to stamp on them, and enactment remained in operation but a short time. Imprecate curses on himself, the Commission, and the Another escise law was passed in 1756, but flailed of Authority that gave it to him; they then cut off one- esecution; then for nearly sixteen years the people half his hair, cued the other half on one side of his of Pe:lnsylvania were undisturbed by governmental Head, cut off the Cock of his Hat, and made him wear ntteml~tsto collect impost duties on spirits. it in a form to render his Cue the most Conspicuous ; . In I772 the subject came again before the Assem- this n-ith many otller marks of Ignominy they Im- bly, and as a measure of revenue a new act was pos'd on him, and to which he was obliged to submit; passed* levying a duty on donlestic and foreign dis- and in the above plight they marched him amidst a tilled spirits. At first this lzn- was not executed in Crowd from the frontiers of this County to Westmore- reference to domestic liquors, nor was there any en- land County, calling at all the Still Houses in their ergetic attempt made for that purpose, particularly in way, where they were Treated Gratis, and espos'd tllc old counties of the pro~ince; but after Pennsyl- him to every Insult and mockery that their Invention vania became a State, and her necessities werc greatly could contrive. They set him at Liberly at the en- increased by the Re~olutionarywar, then in progress: trance of Westmoreland, but with Threats of utter tlie law was put in execution, and a very consider- Desolution should he dare to return to our County. able revenue obtained in that way, the measure being " This Bandittie I am told denounces distruction, at that time the less obnoxious because patriotic men vengeance against all manner of People who dare to mere opposed to the consumption of grain in distilla- oppose or even ganeaay this their unparrelled beha- 1 Votes of Assembly, i. 20. Dallas, i. 203. A Ibid , i. 993. Ibid., i. GX. 5 Pa. Arcllivcs, s. 757. 11 Document is not to be posted on any other Web site but Fay-West.com Digital Scan by Fay-West.com. All Rights Reserved. 15s I-IISTOItT OF FAI'ETTE COUXTY, PENSSYLVBKIA. I vior, and that they will support every person con- Upon the adoption of the Federal Constitution, it cerned against every opposition. I suppose they de- became necessary to provide ways and means to snp- pend on their numbers, for I am told the Combination port the government, to pay just and pressing Rero- is large. lutionary clxims, and sustain the army, which ~ras " 1 have thought it my duty as a good citizen to ' still necessary for the protection of th2 frontier against give your Honorable Boardinformation of this match- Iudinn attack. " The duties on goods imported were less and daring Insult offered to Governn~ent,andthe / very far from adequate to the n-ants of the new gor- necessity there is for a speedy and Exemplary pun- ernment. Tases were laid on articles supposed to be ishing being inflicted on those atrocious offenders, for the least necessary, and, among other thing, on dis- if this piece of conduct is lightly looked over, no Civil I tilled liquors, or on the stills with wl~ichthey were officer mill be safe in the Exercise of his duty, thougli manufactured." At thr suggestion of Alesander some Gentlemen with w11om I hare conversed think , Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, a bill was it would be best, and wish a mild prosccution; for my 1 framcd, among the proribions of which was the impo- part I am of a different opinion, fix it certaii~lyis the sition of an escise duty of four pence per gallon on most audacious and accomplished piece of outmgious I all di-tilled spirits. This bill was passed by Congresb, and unproyoked Insult that was ever offered to a ' 3Iarch 3, 1791, against the strong opposition of many Government and the Liberties of a free People, and members, among the most determined and energetic what in my opinion greatly agrirntes their Guilt is of wl~onl~vas the representatire of this district, Wil- that it was not done in a Gust of Passion, but cooly, l liam Fincllcy, of JVeatniorelantl. Albert Gallatin and I deliberately, and Prosecuted from day to day, and ' John Sn!i!ie, both men of the highest prominence and there appears such a desolute and refixtory spirit to ,I residents of Fayette County, were among the strongest pervade a Certain class of People here, particularly. opponents of the measure, thougli not advocates of those concerned in the above Job, that demnnds the 1 forcible resistance to its esecution. attention of Government, arld the most severe pun- 1 It was argued that the law of 1791 bore more ishn~ent. I heavily and unjudly on the interests of the region '. I am not able to give the names of dlconcerned, I n-est of tlie Alleghenies than on those of any other nor have I had an opportunity of making perticular part of the Union. Here a principal product of the enquiry, but hare received the aforegoing informa- i farmers was rp. For tliis there was little home de- tion from different people on whom I can rely, neither mand, and it conld not be transported across the do I think they hare as many friends as they suppose, mountains at a profit, escept in the form of whiskey. or would wicli to make the public believe. I liave it "A horse could carry but four buJiels, but he conld not in my Power at this time to be ns full and es- take the yrocluct of twenty-four bushels in the shape plicit as I could wish on this subject, as I hare but of alcol~ol.