Before Prohibition, There was Whiskey Rebellion

Oh, those of you who love to say if we are to learn from history, then the Prohibition taught us quite clearly alcohol should never be banned again. Consider the Whiskey Rebellion, as well, for it is an interesting parallel. Before there was the Prohibition, you might say, there was the Whiskey Rebellion, and a few of the lessons to be learned are the same.

Grant it, the Prohibition brought an outrage against the tearing away of alcohol from our bosoms, while the outrage against the whiskey tax was an outrage against taxation -- two different things.

But, similarities remain. Back in those days, they didn't ban drugs and such. But, a tax is another matter. They did think to tax the stuff -- intoxicating spirits, anyway. So, along came the whiskey tax of 1791. The response was quick. People were outraged. Remember the Boston Tea Party, they said, and they patterned their protests after the American Revolution.

Give me liberty or give me death. 

Now, a lot of people think alcohol is a liberty, same as having the "right" not to have a tax on whiskey.

Well,  as people refused to pay it, the whiskey tax made criminals out of them all, same as the Prohibition made criminals out of those who resisted it. Among other incidences, on Sept. 11, 1791, they tarred and feathered a tax collector named Robert Johnson. I just mention that because the date is fun, what with it being 200 years to the day before 9-11.

Well, eventually it escalated to an armed rebellion, people upset with a government they thought had no right to be doing what it was doing, same as people would later say the government had no right to ban liquor during the Prohibition. Washington responded two ways. First, he sent an army to quell the rebellion. Second, he sent emissaries to try to talk to the rebels. I like to liken that second approach to those who say we should have education, not legislation against alcohol.

Eventually, a vote was taken, coming on Sept. 11, 1794 (there's that interesting date, again). I don't know if it the referendum was just in Pennsylvania, but I think that was the case (and I don't know whether it was even in all of Pennsylvania). The referendum vote came back mixed, some communities voting one way, others voting the other way.

War proceeded, and after federal troops suppressed the whiskey rebels, public opinion sided with the government. That public opinion favored the government might not sound at all like a parallel for the Prohibition, where voting eventually led to the 21st Amendment, overturning the 18th Amendment and ending the Prohibition.

But, it is often overlooked that the resistance continued. Even after the war, people kept right on refusing to pay the tax until the tax was repealed. Yes, the tax was repealed, same as the 18th Amendment was. The resisters lost the war, but they won their cause.