Whiskey+Excise+Tax+Hamilton+p7

 __**Definition/ Background**__ The Whiskey Excise Tax was passed on January 27, 1791 by a 35 to 21 majority in the House of Representatives. The Excise, an internal tax on domestic and imported alcohol was proposed by Alexander Hamilton. Large producers of whiskey were more willing to commit to the new tax because they were able to make an annual payment of about six cents per gallon. Smaller producers who did not produce large quantities of whiskey were opposed to the tax because they had to make payments throughout the year at about nine cents per gallon. Because these small producers were not able to pay the tax as well as large producers, a rebellion took place in 1794. This Whiskey Rebellion showed the people’s opposition to the tax.

Hamilton needed to find a way for the government to achieve a source of revenue in order to survive. He created a national bank in order handle national trade and finance. Similarly, Hamilton needed a way to pay off the national debt of the states from the Revolutionary War and not fall into deeper debt. Hamilton proposed the Whiskey Excise Tax in 1791 which taxed the production of whiskey in the states. Hamilton’s validation for the tax was that it was more as social discipline than a source of revenue. In 1794, small producers of whiskey began to rebel against the tax most prominently in Pennsylvania. President George Washington sent over 12,000 militia men to break up the conflict. This was the first hiccup against the government after the revolution and showed the strength of the Executive Branch.
 * __Hamilton's Cause/ Reaction__**

__**Questions to Opposition**__ · According to Jefferson’s opinions about equality, he believed that the Whiskey Excise Tax was unfair towards small producers of whiskey and favored large producers. How is the excise __unfair__ considering that large producers of whiskey must ultimately pay a larger tax because they produce more product compared to small producers who produce small amounts of product and are taxed a small sum more throughout the year?

· The ordinary people believed that they were being oppressed because the opinions of the farmers had not been taken into account during the creation of the Whiskey Excise Tax. This lead to the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. If the people opposed the tax strongly enough to violently rebel and cause Washington to send over 12,000 troops to Pennsylvania to break up the revolts, __why__ did they not vote for a representative to voice their opinions in the House of Representatives? If no representatives were available with the views of the common man at the time, why didn’t people with oppressed views step up and become a representative during this time of great new social, economic, and political change?

· You state that Jefferson believed the government “should protect individual state’s freedom, but that it (the states) should not be involved in making business decisions.” You believe that the Whiskey Excise Tax worked against exactly what Jefferson believed in. __How__ can this be true if the tax was basically a business decision created by the government in order to address the economic needs of the country? __Isn’t__ the tax following Jefferson’s belief that the government should protect individual state’s freedom by working to reverse the national debt?