Skip to main content
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Briefing Book
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Fiscal Facts
Twitter
Facebook
Logo Site
  • Topics
    • Individual Taxes
    • Business Taxes
    • Federal Budget and Economy
    • State and Local Issues
    • Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Features
Working paper

The Whiskey Rebellion and the Fight for Equal Taxation in Early America

Vanessa Williamson
July 18, 2022
Download PDFPrint
Share

Primary tasks

  • Overview(active tab)
  • Full Report

Abstract

In response to Hamilton’s upwardly redistributive “funding system,” which directed revenue from a regressive tax on whiskey to the wealthy owners of public debt, western Pennsylvania farmers revolted, seeking a new tax system that was “equal” – that is, proportionate to wealth. To the extent they are remembered at all, the “Whiskey Rebels” make up part of a misleading history of the American frontier. Western intransigence in the face of taxation has been misunderstood as evidence that Americans have always been independent, self-sufficient, knee-jerk opponents of government. In reality, frontiersmen wanted more and stronger government, in the form of military support for American settlers’ invasion of indigenous lands, and higher taxes on the wealthy, to protect the rough economic parity among white men they saw as critical to the survival of the American political experiment in republican self-government.

Research Area

Federal Budget and Economy Economic effects of tax policy Federal revenue
To reuse content from the Tax Policy Center, visit copyright.com, search for the publications, choose from a list of licenses, and complete the transaction.

Meet the Experts

  • Vanessa Williamson
    Senior fellow
Research report

New Evidence on The Effect of The TCJA On the Housing Market

Robert McClelland, Livia Mucciolo, Safia Sayed
March 30, 2022
  • Donate Today
  • Topics
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletters
Twitter
Facebook
  • © Urban Institute, Brookings Institution, and individual authors, 2022.