What was the main cause of the whiskey Rebellion?

1 Answer
Apr 25, 2017

Taxation without representation.

Explanation:

The farmers of Western Pennsylvania would turn their farm products like corn into Whiskey. The mountains made transporting good from Western Pennsylvania to the Eastern Sea coast very difficult. By turning the farm products into Whiskey Bushels of corn could be turned into a single barrel of high quality alcohol.

Whiskey was the cash crop of the farmers on the Western frontier. The bankers of the east were trying to raise money to pay for the long war for Independence. The people on the Eastern seaboard wanted a large part of the cash crop of the farmers. The legislature based in the East passed heavy taxes on the Whiskey being brought across the mountains.

The farmers rebelled as they felt they had no participation in the laws being passed to tax them. The taxes were devastating to the Western Farmers. The farmers declared themselves independent from the legislatures of the East Coast to protest taxation without representation.