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Article Title

March into Oblivion

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The Whiskey Rebellion often is assigned, even by historians, to an obscurity which belies its significance. Its importance was major not only to the people most affected by its cause and those most intimately involved in the playing out of the events, but also to the young federal government, which had to demonstrate its authority yet not trample its own citizens. The situation held a very real potential for tearing apart the fragile nation. President George Washington felt strongly enough about it to involve himself personally in the beginnings of the military action. In the last few years of the century, rapid improvement in economics, safety, and foreign relations, surely spurred in part by the government's reactions to the insurrection, underscored the importance to the nation as a whole. [excerpt]

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