Talk:Whiskey Rebellion

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sources added by R Jensen 67.176.74.236 22:16, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

George Washington whiskey

Why does the article state "George Washington, the president at the time, was one such large producer of whiskey.[3]"? To me, this implies that Washington was already producing whiskey at the time the tax began. In fact, the cited article states that Washington's farm did not begin producing whiskey until 1797, and the large distillery was not completed until 1798, 4 years after the whole incident. This is rather misleading, in my opinion. --Luke —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.32.76.156 (talk) 19:38, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Rated

See below. What was the name, Herman or Harmon? The article fails to mention that George Washington ran one of the largest whiskey still in the US at the time of the rebellion, and personally benefitted from the tax law.Pustelnik (talk) 17:46, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

It's Herman. Adding what you're describing qualifies as original research without third-party references to cite the claim. Xihr (talk) 22:47, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

On the subject of Herman Husmband's death, there seems to be some conflict between this article and his eponymous article, which claims he died while on his way home after being released. neither page is citing and specific sources for him though so it's hard to be sure. anyone know? Puckrod (talk) 17:59, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

This article doesn't contain names or reference to any of the organizers of the rebellion.

Too true! I came here because I couldn't find an article on David Bradford. Guess I'll have to write it. . . . --Michael K. Smith 12:10, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

As the author of a new book on the rebellion (and a still fumbling user of Wikipedia), I can add much info regarding the organizers of the rebellion, as well as other matters, and can do so concisely; I also have concerns about factual errors on this otherwise admirably clear and accurate page, and about some seemingly subtle (and clearly unintentional) failures of NPOV. But I need guidance. My book's POV is not meant to be N -- nonetheless, certain misstatements here, seemingly slight, have interested implications. Quick example: the tax was *not* intended by Hamilton to "pay down" the debt but to build and fund it, a key distinction for both Hamilton and the rebels, at the very heart of founding finance policy and of what the rebels objected to. There are a number of other issues like that. I did try editing the page a while ago and bailed, realizing I was simply not yet Wikipedia-savvy enough to do so effectively, and that my having a new book to promote muddies the waters. I'm perfectly certain, of course, that my book belongs in the refs, but I'm now keenly aware that my certainty is not all that would be required. So: Would it be helpful if I added to the talk page a few specific comments on factual issues? Any thoughts on this would be welcome -- I'm passionate about the topic's startling central importance to U.S. founding history and know that this page has an important place in clarifying that importance for general readers. -- William Hogeland Whogeland 19:29, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

I also am a new user of Wikipedia and was considering getting my feet wet by editing this article based on a very recent reading of your book. It looks like I should go elsewhere since I imagine you can do a more expert job on analyzing your own book. The points that I found particularly interesting were (in no particular order)your treatment of this as part of a potentially larger secession movement in the west, the relationship of the movement to the revised Pennsylvania Constitution, the benefits to "Big Whiskey" as a result of the tax, the value and necessity of using whiskey as a unit of exchange, and the overall link of the tax to the plight of war veterans and the onging conflict between debtors and creditors. Tom 16:50, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks very much. I think we new users may need guidance in making edits based on info (and analysis) in a new source, especially when the source itself (me) might want to edit the page. (It might actually be more appropriate for you to edit the page than for me to do it.) Mainly I just want to make the thing more NPOV, not engage all the issues in my book; also I don't want anyone to see me as an overly interested vandalizer and take down what I do. The discussion page should be about the page under discussion, not about my book -- so my instinct is to wait and see whether somebody who started or is helping maintain this page wants to weigh in on. But I very much appreciate your pithy description of the main issues in my work! -- William Hogeland Whogeland

I've been on a few months, and I'm a bit addicted. Since March 5, I've logged about 13,000 edits. If you have any questions, please ask me. I've started WikiProject Pittsburgh so that editors with similar interests can get together to work on articles. --Chris Griswold (☎☓) 07:06, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Possible ad

The suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion also had the unintended consequences of encouraging small whiskey producers and other settlers to relocate to the then-frontier lands of Kentucky and Tennessee, which were outside the sphere of Federal control for many years. In these frontier areas, they also found good corn-growing country and smooth, limestone-filtered water to make their whiskey. this sounds like an ad for bourbon. ReverendG 05:47, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

This sounds like the facts and an interesting sidelight to me. --DThomsen8 (talk) 12:29, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Also Note A Different Perspective:

The Whiskey Rebellion can be considered a gesture of incompetence and inability on the part of the government, as many of the people who were responsible for the insurrection "disappeared" when the army of 15,000 appeared. The disappearance made it harder to [prosecute]] these "criminals" and eventually Washington's army gave up. Also, many votes were lost during this period to the Republicans, as in their quest for justice, the Federalist commanders alienated many supporters, who were later converted to the Republican cause. Russophile2 04:19, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Inaccurate Info

I'm finding some inaccurate information in the article. For example, the rebellion was not ONLY in Pennsylvania. http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard1.html Here is an account of the Rebellion by the semi-famous economist, historian, philosopher, and author Murry N. Rothbard. He cites two fairly credible sources, Thomas P. Slaughter, The Whiskey Rebellion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986); and Steven R. Boyd, ed., The Whiskey Rebellion (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985)

Also, I don't think BWG was president in the 1700s (first chapter error) !

Merger proposed (Tom the Tinker)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

The result was to merge Tom the Tinker into Whiskey Rebellion. --B. Wolterding 08:27, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I propose to merge the content of Tom the Tinker into here, since the notability of that article has been questioned. Since the article on Tom the Tinker is completely unsourced, it might also be that parts of it need to be dropped in the merger since they are not verifiable. Please add your comments below.

Proposed as part of the Notability wikiproject. --B. Wolterding 17:48, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

• Merge. He's notable in the sense that he was the leader of a notable Whiskey Rebellion, but obviously from the article there is little relevant to say about him beyond his involvement in the Rebellion and thus warrants being merged with it. Xihr 02:35, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Whiskey, or Whisky

I believe that the official spelling of American Whisky is without the e.(Lucas(CA) 03:08, 5 September 2007 (UTC))

I've found whiskey is more common than whisky. m-w.com lists the former as the priamry spelling, and the latter as a variant. I haven't done a survey of other dictionaries, but you'll probably find the weigh more toward the former than the latter. Xihr 05:21, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Whisky is still the official spelling in the US (although the e is accpetable), The e is for the Irish spelling. Considering, that the Irish weren't as common in america back then, and that Scotsmen, and Ulster Scots were much more common, and were the predominant group on the Frotier, I would say that the most applicable spelling would be without the e (Lucas(CA) 01:50, 6 September 2007 (UTC))

There is no official spelling of any word in the US, or in any English speaking country. The English language has no official governing body in contrast to French and Spanish, for example. Moreover, the US doesn't have an official language. Potahto (talk) 07:59, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Error in comparison?

"The militia force of 12,950 men was organized, roughly the size of the entire army in the Revolutionary War." WIKI's own page on the American Revolutionary War states, "About 250,000 men served as regulars or as militiamen for the Revolutionary cause in the eight years of the war, but there were never more than 90,000 total men under arms at one time." These numbers are substantially higher than 12,950. (TruthBastion (talk) 01:00, 11 January 2010 (UTC))