Domestic Policy

Whiskey Insurrection

Due to Hamilton’s tax on liquor in 1791, many frontier farmers struggled to pay the tax. This was due to them distilling their corn and rye into liquor since it was too difficult to transport.

1. In 1794, armed mobs terrorised federal agents (who collected those taxes) and stopped courts from operating. In the August, 6,000 men had gathered near Pittsburgh, setting upmock quillotines to show solidarity with revolutionary France

   This created fear since it showed American Jacobinism in action.

2. Hamilton urged Washington raise a militia force if 13,000 men to deal with the trouble. Hamilton led the Army to Pittsburgh, suppressing the mob and granting an amnesty to all the rebels who signed an oath to obey the federal government’s laws.

   People feared a standing army and military dictatorship. This also alienated frontiersmen.

3. This was very god as it showed that the government did have some bite to deal with issues.

Successes and failures of Washington’s Presidency so far