The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis
| Date: | Tuesday, November 12 |
| Time: | 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. |
| Cost: | Free; registration appreciated. |
| Location: | Fellowship Hall |
| Presenter/Author: | Brady Crytzer |
Join historian Brady Crytzer as he discusses his book The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis.
In March 1791, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton shocked the western frontier when he proposed a tax on whiskey to balance America’s national debt. The law, known as the Whiskey Act, disproportionately penalized farmers in the backcountry, while offering favorable tax incentives designed to protect larger distillers. Settlers in Western Pennsylvania bristled at its passage and demanded that the law be revoked or rewritten to correct its perceived injustices. As the months passed, people grew restless with the inadequacy of the government’s response and they soon turned to more violent means of political expression. In response, President George Washington raised one of the largest forces he ever commanded to suppress the rebellion. No major battle ever occurred, but weeks of arrests, illegal detentions, and civil rights violations rocked the west. The event polarized the nation.
Brady J. Crytzer teaches history at Robert Morris University. He is the winner of the 2023 Judge Robert K. Woltz History Award. A specialist of the Frontier History of North America, Crytzer is an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Revolution, and stars on the hit cable series "Into the Wild Frontier" on INSP and "Outlaws and Lawmen with Sean Hannity" on FOX Nation.
Crytzer is the host of the award-winning series Battlefield Pennsylvania on the Pennsylvania Cable Network, and the winner of the Donna J. McKee and Donald S. Kelly Awards for Outstanding Scholarship and Service in History. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Sirius XM, and USA Today.
