USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -These people wanted to see the young federal government succeed. They saw the whiskey tax as an important way to raise money that the new government needed to thrive. To them the rebels’ refusal to obey the law and pay the tax was a major threat to the union.

Detailed explanation-2: -Washington responded by sending peace commissioners to western Pennsylvania to negotiate with the rebels, while at the same time calling on governors to send a militia force to enforce the tax.

Detailed explanation-3: -Why was this rebellion significant in our history? The Whiskey Rebellion was the first test of federal authority in the United States. This rebellion enforced the idea that the new government had the right to levy a particular tax that would impact citizens in all states.

Detailed explanation-4: -President George Washington responded to the rebellion by sending a 12, 000 soldiers to Pennsylvania to confront the rebels, who disbanded without a single shot fired. The Whiskey Rebellion marked the first major challenge to federal authority in the young United States.

Detailed explanation-5: -Two men, John Mitchell and Philip Weigel, were found guilty of treason, though both were pardoned by President Washington. By 1802, then President Thomas Jefferson repealed the excise tax on whiskey. Under the eye of President Washington, the nascent United States survived the first true challenge to federal authority.