Incidents of the Insurrection in the Western Parts of Pennsylvania, in the Year 1794

During the presidency of George Washington, Congress passed an excise tax on the sale of whiskey. The new tax greatly angered farmers living on the Pennsylvania frontier west of the Appalachians. Because they often distilled their grain into whiskey for easier transport over mountain roads, the western farmers believed they were being unfairly targeted. Protests against the tax soon transformed into an armed uprising. This account of the conflicts between the federal government and the insurgents of the Whiskey Rebellion greatly favors the the cause of the insurrectionists.