The Whiskey Rebellion 1791 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Whiskey sedition 1791 - Essay ExampleCongress agreed and President Washington chose to appoint Henry Knox as the depositary of War, Thomas Jefferson as the Secretary of State, and Alexander Hamilton as the Secretary of the Treasury. The appointment of Jefferson and Hamilton would later have a great impact as the two had conflicting views about the future role of the American government. It was Hamiltons goal and responsibility as Treasurer in this new government to reduce or choke the massive debt incurred by the Revolutionary war. Hamilton was a very smart individual. He devised and implemented several strategies in order to reduce the landal debt and provide stability to the American economy (Henretta , n.d.). Overall, his policies worked very rise and the nation prospered as the debt was paid down. However, his fiscal policies divided the government and the people into distinct groups with opposing political views, those who sided with Hamilton and those who support Jeffe rsons small government views. One of Hamiltons policies included an excise tax on invigorate in order to pay the interest on the national debt. This tax did not sit well with western Pennsylvania distillers whose main source of income was the production and sale of whiskey (Whiskey Rebellion, n.d.).