Whiskey+Excise+Tax


 * Excise Tax** - An indirect tax charged on the sale of a particular good.
 * Whiskey Excise Tax** - The American Revolution built up a major debt which had to be paid off. Congress approved a bill that put an excise tax on all liquor in order to help pay off this debt. Whiskey was one of the main exports so people resisted the tax with different attitudes. Most refused to pay the tax while others led violent rebellions. The Whiskey Rebellion took place in 1794 throughout the western frontier. The negative actions against this tax started in Pennsylvania but soon spread. The biggest concern was that the tax would support the national government which many people felt were not representing them well.

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were silent on the issue of the Whiskey tax because they had made a deal with Alexander Hamilton. They agreed to move the nation's capital from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. in exchange for the federal government paying off the states' war debts. Hamilton created the whiskey excise tax to hold up his end of the deal, however, Jefferson did not agree with this method.
 * Thomas Jefferson and The Whiskey Excise Tax**

In July of 1794, soon after the rebellion started in Pennsylvania, Jefferson gets word of the excise tax and its impact in society.

Because of the Whiskey Rebellion, Thomas Jefferson resigned form his administration post as Secretary Of State. After his departure, he went to help form the Democratic Republican Party which supported States rights against the federal government.

Jefferson believed the purpose of government is to protect the "unalienable rights" of its citizens which includes "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". He believed the people have a right to rebel and wrote this in the Declaration of Independence when the government deprived them of their rights. Thomas Jefferson's thoughts on the Whiskey Tax: "The first error was to pass it; the second was to enforce it; and the third, to make it the means of splitting this Union."

Whiskey tax repealed under president Thomas Jefferson in 1801.

1. If your main goal was to pay back the debt, then why did you charge the smaller producers more money, 3 cents more, then the larger producers when in the western region they used whiskey instead of money to barter for other goods? 2. If so many people were rebelling in violent ways against this act why would you continue to send in troops to enforce the law?