What is Whiskey Rebellion?
[[Image:WhiskeyRebellion.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Washington leads his troops to western Pennsylvania ([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]])]] The '''Whiskey Rebellion''' was a [[rebellion]] against the [[federal government of the United States]]. Some [[farmer]]s in western [[Pennsylvania]] [[rebellion|rebelled]] against the [[United States]] government in 1794 because they believed that a new tax on [[whiskey]] was not fair. Selling whiskey was how people traded in western Pennsylvania, but farmers elsewhere did not need to sell whiskey. The United States had borrowed a large amount of money for the [[American Revolutionary War]], and [[Alexander Hamilton]] offered the idea to try to pay the war [[debt]]. The government under [[George Washington]], with advice from [[Alexander Hamilton]], quickly stopped the rebellion. Washington and Hamilton wanted to ensure that no one would question the power of the federal government and so Washington himself led almost 13,000 troops to stop the rebellion of a few hundred farmers. The rebels went home before the army arrived. The new federal government became more solid and the president more powerful.<ref>Rorabaugh, W.J. ''The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition'', 1979. Oxford University Press, 53.</ref> Numerous examples of resistance are recorded in court documents and newspaper accounts.<ref>Howlett, Leon. ''The Kentucky Bourbon Experience: A Visual Tour of Kentucky's Bourbon Distilleries'', 2012, 7.</ref> That is the only time in [[History of the United States|American history]] that a president has led the army by himself. == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:1794]] [[Category:18th-century rebellions]] [[Category:Whisky]] [[Category:1790s in Pennsylvania]] {{history-stub}}