by Carol Berkin
20. Ibid., p. 246.
21. See Thomas Jefferson to William S. Smith, November 13, 1787, PTJ, Vol. 12, pp. 355–357.
22. For a review of the protests and the violence against the tax collectors, marshals, and other supporters of the federal excise tax, see Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, August 5, 1794, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 16, pp. 478–508. For the best collection of documents on the Whiskey Rebellion, see “Papers Relating to What is Known as the Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania, 1794,” Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Vol. 4, ed. John B. Linn and William H. Egle, MD (Clarence M. Busch, State Printer of Pennsylvania, 1896). For contemporary accounts, see H. H. Brackenridge, Incidents of the Insurrection in the Western Parts of Pennsylvania, in the Year 1794, Classic Reprint (Forgotten Books, 2016); H. M. Brackenridge, History of the Western Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania Commonly Called the Whiskey Insurrection, 1794; reprinted (Heritage Books, 2009); and William Findley, History of the Insurrection in the Four Western Counties of Pennsylvania in the Year MDCCXCIV; with a Recital of the Circumstances Specially Connected therewith, and an Historical Review of the Previous Situation of the Country (Philadelphia 1796). For modern accounts of the Whiskey Rebellion, see William Hogeland, The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Frontier Rebels Who Challenged America’s Newfound Sovereignty (Simon and Schuster, 2010); Leland D. Baldwin, Whiskey Rebels: The Story of a Frontier Uprising. (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1939); and Thomas P. Slaughter, The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 1988).
23. The account of the attack on John Connor can be found in Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, August 5, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 24–58.
24. Hogeland, The Whiskey Rebellion, p. 105.
4: “What occasion is there for such violent and unwarrantable proceedings?”
25. George Washington to David Humphreys, July 20, 1791, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 8, pp. 358–361.
26. Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, April 10, 1791, PAH, Vol. 8, p. 269.
27. To The United States Senate and House of Representatives, October 25, 1791, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 9, pp. 110–117.
28. For the report, see AC, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, Appendix, pp. 1077–1098; see also Report on the Difficulties in the Execution of the Act Laying Duties on Distilled Spirits (March 5, 1792), PAH, Vol. 11, pp. 77–106.
29. AC, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, March 8, 1792, pp. 450–451.
30. AC, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, April 30, 1792, pp. 584–586.
31. AC, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, April 26, 1792, p. 580, and May 5, 1792, pp. 593–594.
5: The “great and real anxiety is… the ability to preserve the national government.”
32. AC, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, April 30, 1792, p. 588.
33. See Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton (Penguin Press, 2004), pp. 39, 425–430; Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800 (Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 293–302. See also George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, August 26, 1792, and Hamilton’s reply, Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, September 9, 1792, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 11, pp. 38–40, 91–94.
34. Alexander Hamilton to Edward Carrington, May 26, 1792, PAH, Vol. 11, pp. 426–445.
35. Alexander Hamilton to Edward Carrington, July 25, 1792, PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 83–85.
36. Hogeland, The Whiskey Rebellion, p. 117.
37. Alexander Hamilton to Tench Cox, September 1, 1792, PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 305–310.
38. See George Clymer to Alexander Hamilton [October 4, 1792], PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 517–522; George Clymer to Alexander Hamilton, September 28, 1792, PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 495–497; see also, Hogeland, The Whiskey Rebellion, pp. 126–127.
39. Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, September 3, 1792, PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 316–317.
40. George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, September 7, 1792, PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 331–333.
41. Ibid.
42. John Jay to Alexander Hamilton, September 8, 1792, PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 334–335.
43. Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, September 11, 1792, PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 365–368; Edmund Randolph to George Washington, September 10, 1792, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 11, pp. 106–108. The account was published in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States on September 25, 1792.
44. Proclamation of September 15, 1792, Avalon Project; George Washington to Thomas Mifflin, September 29, 1792, PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 508–509; Alexander Hamilton to George Washington September 23, 1792, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 11, p. 147.
45. Richard Henry Lee to George Washington, September 26, 1775, PGW, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 2, pp. 51–53; George Washington to Edmund Randolph, October 1, 1792, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 11, p. 187.
6: “Where the law ends, there tyranny begins.”
46. George Washington to the Ministers and Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1793, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 12, p. 63.
47. George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, September 17, 1792, PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 390–391.
48. PA, Second Series, Vol. 4 (1896), pp. 28–32.
49. George Clymer to Alexander Hamilton, October 10, 1792, PAH, Vol. 12, pp. 540–542.
50. PA, Second Series, Vol. 4 (1896), pp. 35–39.
51. AC, 2nd Congress, 2nd Session, House of Representatives, November 10, 1792, p. 677.
52. William Findley to Governor Mifflin, November 21, 1792, PA, pp. 41–44.
53. William Findley to Governor Mifflin, November 21/92, PA, pp. 41–44; Thomas Mifflin, Annual Message, PA, 44–46.
7: “It is the duty of the general government to protect the frontiers.”
54. Gilder Lehrman Institute Collection, New-York Historical Society, #GLCO2437.05942, October 11, 1793. For a full discussion of the yellow fever epidemic, see J. H. Powell, Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993).
55. Alexander Hamilton to Henry Knox, June 25, 1793, PAH, Vol. 15, p. 26.
56. Proclamation on Violent Opposition to the Excise Tax, February 24, 1794, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 15, pp. 275–277.
57. Kentucky, formerly part of Virginia, became the fifteenth state on June 1, 1792; Cabinet Meeting: Opinion on Expeditions Being Planned In Kentucky for the Invasion of the Spanish Dominions, March 10, 1794, PAH, Vol. 16, p. 136–140; “Proclamation on Expeditions against Spanish Territory, March 24, 1794, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 15, pp. 446–447. For a full discussion of Genet’s invasion plans, see Part 2 of this volume.
58. See George Muter, On Saturday the 24th instant a numerous meeting of respectable citizens from different parts of this state assembled in Lexington… (Printed by John Bradford, 1794); see also Edmund Randolph to William Bradford, Alexander Hamilton, and Henry Knox, July 11, 1794, PAH, Vol. 16, pp. 588–590. Edmund Randolph would eventually manage to win a truce with the distillers in 1795 by offering to forgive all whiskey tax arrears and by announcing that a treaty with Spain had been signed. For a brief moment, the problem of Kentucky seemed to be solved, but the distillers reneged on their promise to obey the law when Spain dragged its feet on honoring the treaty. It would not be until 1799, when president-elect Thomas Jefferson promised to repeal the excise tax, that Kentucky’s distillers at last voluntarily paid their taxes. Bonsteel Tachau, “The Whiskey Rebellion,” pp. 239–259.
59. Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, July 13, 1794, PAH, Vol. 16, pp. 600–602; Edmund Randolph to William Bradford, Alexander Hamilton and Henry, July 11, 1794, note 2, in PAH, Vol. 16, pp. 588–590; see also ASP, Indian Affairs, Vol. 1, p. 500.
8: “Finding the opposition to the revenue law more violent than I expected…”
60. See notes from Thomas Mifflin to George Washingt
on, April 18, 1794, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 15, pp. 612–614; Alexander Addison to Thomas Mifflin, March 31, 1794, and May 12, 1794, PA, pp. 50–51, 53–54; Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, June 4, 1794, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 16, pp. 184–185.
61. See US Statutes at Large, Vol. 1, 3rd Congress, 1st Session, Library of Congress 49; Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, PAH, Vol. 16, pp. 456–457.
62. For the correspondence on the Whiskey Rebellion, see “Opposition to the Excise Law in Pennsylvania,” AC, 4th Congress, Appendix, pp. 2791–2868; for additional accounts of these attacks and the rebellion in general, see Hogeland, The Whiskey Rebellion; Brackenridge, Incidents of the Insurrection; and Slaughter, The Whiskey Rebellion; see also “Papers Relating to What is Known as the Whiskey Rebellion,” pp. 1–47.
63. Deposition of Francis Mentges, August 1, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 2–6.
64. General Gibson to Governor Thomas Mifflin, July 18, 1794, PA, pp. 58–60; Major Thomas Butler to Gen. Knox, July 18, 1794, PA, pp. 63–64.
65. Hogeland, The Whiskey Rebellion, pp.167–173.
66. “Circular of the Western Insurgents to the Militia Officers,” July 28, 1794, in PA, p. 67.
9: “The crisis is now come, submission or opposition.”
67. Deposition of Francis Mentges, August 1, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 2–6.
68. Conference at the President’s, Saturday, August 9 [2?], 1794, PA, pp. 122–124.
69. Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, August 2, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 15–19.
70. Ibid.
71. James Wilson to George Washington, August 4, 1794, PA, p. 70; Opposition to the Excise Law, AC, 4th Congress, Appendix, p. 2796.
72. Circular to the President Judges, July 25, 1794, PA, pp. 65–66; Governor Thomas Mifflin to George Washington, August 5, 1794, AC, 4th Congress, 1795–1797, Appendix, pp. 2825–2830; Gen. John Wilkins to Col. Clement Biddle, August 1, 1794, PA, p. 69.
73. Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, August 5, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 24–58; AC, 4th Congress, Appendix, p. 2796; Edmund Randolph to George Washington, August 5, 1794, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 16, pp. 523–530.
74. Appointment of United States Commissioners, August 8, 1794; Instructions to the United States Commissioners, August 8, 1794, in PA, pp. 116–118.
75. Thomas Mifflin to Judge (Thomas) McKean and Gen. William Irvine, August 6, 1794, PA, pp. 93–94.
76. David Bradford to the Inhabitants of Monongahela, Virginia, August 6, 1794, PA, p. 95.
10: “Such disorder can only be cured by copious bleedings.”
77. Proclamation, August 7, 1794, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 16, pp. 531–537.
78. Secretary of War to Governor Mifflin, August 7, 1794, PA, pp. 104–105.
79. Secretary of State to Governor Mifflin, AC, 4th Congress, Appendix, pp. 2829–2837.
80. Thomas Mifflin to the President of the United States, August 8, 1794, AC, 4th Congress, 1795–1797, Appendix, pp. 2837–2843.
81. Secretary of War to Governor Mifflin, August 7, 1794, PA, pp. 104–105; Second Proclamation of Governor Mifflin, August 7, 1794, PA, p. 114.
82. H. H. Brackenridge to Tench Coxe, in Brackenridge, Incidents of the Insurrection, Appendix, pp. 130–131, also in PA, pp. 119–122; see also Samuel Hodgdon to Isaac Craig, July 26, 1794, in Kenneth A. White, “Such Disorder Can Only Be Cured by Copious Bleedings: The Correspondence of Isaac Craig During the Whiskey Rebellion,” The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, Vol. 67, No. 3, pp. 213–242; and for another account of the attack on Neville, see David Lenox to Alexander Hamilton, September 8, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 203–209.
83. For an account of the meeting at Parkinson’s Ferry, see PA, pp. 135–136.
84. Hogeland, The Whiskey Rebellion, pp. 190–192; The United States Commissioners to the Secretary of State, August 17, 1794, PA, pp. 138–141; and also PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 16, pp. 592–593.
85. Isaac Craig to Henry Knox, August 17, 1794, in White, “Such Disorder Can Only Be Cured by Copious Bleedings,” pp. 224–225; The United States Commissioners to the Secretary of State, August 17, 1794, PA, pp. 138–141; Gen. William Irvine to Secretary Dallas, August 17, 1794, PA, pp. 142–143.
86. Proceedings of the First Conference, August 20, 1794, PA, pp. 155–158; Ross, Yeates, Bradford to the Committee of Conference, Assembled at Pittsburg [sic], August 21, 1794; Edward Cook, Chairman to the Commissioners, August 22, 1794; Ross, Yeates, Bradford to the Committee of Conference, August 22, 1794; Edward Cook to the Commissioners, August 23, 1794; Ross, Yeates, and Bradford to the Committee of Conference, August 23, 1794; Robert Stephenson, William Sutherland, William McKinly to Commissioners, August 23, 1794; Ross et al. to Stephenson et al., August 23, 1794; Stephenson et al. to Commissioners, August 23, 1794, all in AC, 4th Congress, Appendix, pp. 2809–2816.
87. Minutes of a Meeting Concerning the Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania, August 24, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp 135–138.
88. Proceedings of the Second Conference, August 29, 1794; Col. Cook to the US Commissioners, August 29, 1794; The Committee of Conference to the US Commissioners, September 1, 1794; US Commissioners to the Committee of Conference, September 1, 1794, all in PA, pp. 180–182, 183, 197, 198–201.
89. Judge Addison’s Charge to the Grand Jury of Allegheny, September 1, 1794, PA, pp. 201–209.
90. The Committee of Conference to the US Commissioners, September 2, 1794, PA, p. 219.
11: “An amicable accommodation [is] so very doubtful.”
91. Gen. Wilkins to Gen. Clement Biddle, September 5, 1794, PA, p. 222; Judge Addison to Thomas Mifflin, September 5, 1794, PA, pp. 222–225; Secretary of War to Governor Mifflin, PA, p. 226.
92. Alexander Hamilton to Thomas Sim Lee, September 6, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 201–202; For news of a liberty pole in Milton, Pennsylvania, see Jasper Ewing, of Northumberland, to Charles Hall, of York, September 27, 1794, PA, pp. 319–320.
93. Declaration of David Bradford et al., September 13, 1794, PA, p. 251.
94. Westmoreland Declaration, September 16, 1794, PA, p. 252.
95. Fayette County Declaration, September 16, 1794, PA, pp. 252–253.
96. Resolves of Ohio County, Virginia, September 8–9, 1794, PA, pp. 228–229.
97. Alexander Hamilton to Rufus King, September 22, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 258–259; Alexander Hamilton to Rufus King, September 17, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 241–242.
98. Special Message of Governor Mifflin to the Assembly, September 10, 1794, PA, pp. 229–230; Col. Josiah Crawford to Gen. Harmar, September 4, 1794, PA, pp. 219–220; Address of Gov. Mifflin to the Militia of Philadelphia, September 10, 1794, PA, pp. 231–233; Secretary Dallas’s Report to the Senate, September 10, 1794, PA, pp. 237–238.
99. Alexander Hamilton to Thomas Sim Lee, September 24, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 266–267; see annotations to Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, August 12, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 86–88, for excerpts from the letters of John Stagg to Henry Knox and Isaac Craig to Henry Knox detailing these proscriptions and threats.
100. Proclamation, September 25, 1794, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 16, pp. 725–727.
12: “To arms once more.”
101. Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, September 19, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 254–255.
102. Alexander Hamilton to General Henry Lee, October 20, 1794, AC, 4th Congress, 1795–1797, Appendix, pp. 2866–2868.
103. Alexander Hamilton to Jared Ingersoll, October 10, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 315–317; Alexander Hamilton to Thomas Mifflin, October 10, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 317–319.
104. George Washington to Edmund Randolph, October 9, 1794, PGW, Presidential Series, Vol. 17, pp. 45–46; George Washington, Diary, October 9, 1794; PGW, The Diaries of George Washington, Vol. 6, ed. Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, pp. 183–186.
105. Ibid.
106. Report of the Committee of Conference with Gen. Lee’s Reply, November 1, 1794, PA, pp. 367–369; notes
on the march from September 30 until October 29, 1794, PA, pp. 362.
107. Resolves of the Inhabitants of Greensburgh, October 23, 1794, PA, pp. 354–355; Deposition of Judge Addison, n.d., PA, pp. 328–329; H. H. Brackenridge to Governor Mifflin, October 3, 1794, PA, p. 331; Resolutions of the Second Meeting at Parkinson’s Ferry, October 3, 1794, PA, pp. 327–328; David Bradford, of Washington, to Governor Mifflin, October 4, 1794, PA, pp. 333–334.
13: “We are very strong & the Insurgents are all submissive.”
108. H. H. Brackenridge to the Army, October 26, 1794, PA, p. 359.
109. General Henry Lee to General Wm. Irvine, November 9, 1794, PA, p. 376; Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, November 11, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 366–367.
110. Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, November 11, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 366–367.
111. H. H. Brackenridge, Incidents of the Insurrection, pp. 75–78.
112. For one account of these interrogations, see William Findley, History, pp. 228–235, 240–245; see also Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, pp. 476–477.
113. Alexander Hamilton to William Rawle, November 17–19, 1794, PAH, Vol. 17, pp. 378–381; William Rawle to Alexander Addison, July 17, 1795, PA, p. 448; Capt. D’Hebecourt to Gen. Henry Lee, November 15, 1794, PA, pp. 378–379.
114. General Lee’s Proclamation of Pardon, November 29, 1794, PA, pp. 402–403.
14: “The spirit inimical to all order.”
115. See Findley, History, pp. 164, 218, 226; H. M. Brackenridge, History of the Whiskey Insurrection, p. 21.
116. See the (Philadelphia) General Advertiser, November 9, 1794.
117. AC, 3rd Congress, 2nd Session, Proceedings of the Senate, November 19, 1794, pp. 787–791.
118. Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, December 28, 1794, PJM, Vol. 15, pp. 426–429; AC, 3rd Congress, 2nd Session, House of Representatives, November 28, 1794, pp. 947–948.
Part II: The Genet Affair
1: “France is on the high-road to despotism.”
1. Gouverneur Morris to William Carmichael, May 14, 1792, in The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris: Minister of the United States to France, Member of the Constitutional Convention, Etc., Vol. 1, ed. Anne Cary Morris (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1888) p. 533; Gouverneur Morris to Thomas Jefferson, September 10, 1792, PTJ, Vol. 24, pp. 364–365.
