Whiskey Rebellion

American  

noun

U.S. History.

1. a revolt of settlers in western Pennsylvania in 1794 against a federal excise tax on whiskey: suppressed by militia called out by President George Washington to establish the authority of the federal government.

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Example Sentences

In the early 1790s the Whiskey Rebellion against federal taxation raised the specter of national disintegration.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

Resistance has taken many forms, from the Whiskey Rebellion of the 1790s to Thoreau’s refusal to pay taxes on moral grounds to the 1,400 elected officials who have signed Grover Norquist’s antitax pledge.

From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026

“At no point has a tax protest that I’m aware of — other than the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion — been sufficiently widespread or strong enough to cause any kind of national response,” she said.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026

Bennett pressed the point, asking whether under the current law the militia George Washington federalized to put down the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 could “stay called up forever” — a position the government again affirmed.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2025

The catalyst for the change was the Whiskey Rebellion, a popular insurgency in four counties of western Pennsylvania protesting an excise tax on whiskey.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis