In the eighteenth-century, the American backcountry had often resorted to violent protests to express the grievances the colonists had due to unjust taxation and racial and political unrest. During the eighteenth-century in America, the colonists were settled in and began coming across individual rights and developed thoughts of their own government.
There were three significant protests in the eighteenth-century American backcountry, March of the Paxton Boys, which were Scots-Irish frontiersmen from Pennsylvania who created a group in 1763 reacting towards local native Americans during the aftereffects of the French and Indian War as well as Pontiac’s Rebellion; Shays’ Rebellion, which were a chain of protest by American farmers from New Hampshire to South Carolina against local and state enforcement of law and tax enforcement; and Whiskey Rebellion, which was the protest against Washington’s taxation on whiskey.
The first violent protest of the eighteenth-century American backcountry was The March of the Paxton Boys. The March of the Paxton Boys were Scots-Irish frontiersmen from Pennsylvania who created a group in 1763 reacting towards local native Americans during the aftereffects of the French and Indian War as well as Pontiac’s Rebellion. The Scots-Irish Paxton Boys were from Pennsylvania, near the Susquehanna River. The Paxton Boys were also led by Reverend John Elder, also know as the Fighting Parson.
Due to the effects of Pontiac’s Rebellion and the French and Indian War, the Paxton Boys were outraged. The Paxton Boys claimed that Indians attacked homes of the Paxton Boys, killing children as well as men and women. The Paxton Boys came together and murdered 21 people of the Conestoga people, a nearby Indian tribe on December of 1763. In January 1764, subsequent to the Conestoga attack, 250 Paxton Boys went to Philadelphia in an attempt to express their grievances to the government and challenge the legislature for not protecting the Paxton boys.
Because the Paxton Boys made the travel to Philadephia, the Paxton Boys were being met in Germantown with leaders led by Benjamin Franklin. At the meeting, the Paxton Boys made an agreement to disband the group after hearing to a promise that was made by Benjamin Franklin. The next violent protest of the eighteenth-century American backcountry was Shays’ Rebellion. Shays’ Rebellion was a chain of protest by American farmers from New Hampshire to South Carolina against local and state enforcement of law and tax enforcement. The rebellion was named after Danial Shay of Massachusetts, a formal Continental army captain.
Starting in 1786 in Massachusetts, Shay’s rebellion was caused by political corruption, harsh tax collection and enforcement, and the unfair economic policies. Because of all of the unfair policies, taxations, and corruption, Shay decided that enough was enough. Danial Shay led four thousand rebels to the national weapons arsenal at Springfield. Ultimately in 1787, the rebellion was broken up by a militia, ending Shays’ Rebellion and the four thousand men who were in the rebellion with Danial Shay was convicted and sentenced to death.
Because of the rebellion, many national leaders, including George Washington, were called for a stronger national government to put a halt to any other rebellions in the future, thus resulting in the Constitutional Convention. The third violent protest of the eighteenth-century American backcountry was the Whiskey Rebellion. The Whiskey Rebellion was the protest against Washington’s taxation on whiskey that began in 1789. Whiskey was a very popular drink during the eighteenth-century.
Western farmers found it easier to distil the rain then to ship it in its grain form. Since whiskey was such a big attractor, Alexander Hamilton thought that placing heavy taxes on the whiskey would tremendously help a country in debt due to the recent war. Because of the taxes placed on whiskey by Alexander Hamilton, farmers, and westerners, which were big purchasers of whiskey became enraged that this product would become taxed. Due to the tax, the farmers started to use violence and intimidation on the tax collectors so the tax would be lifted off of whiskey.
The rebellion really came to a peak in 1794. Not a single soul paid the tax on the whiskey when a U. S. marshall got to the western part of Pennsylvania, where most of the whiskey was produced and consumed. 500 men attacked the home of tax inspector General John Neville. The Whiskey Rebellion showed that the new government was able to handle violent resistance. Eventually leading to the creation of political parties. The whiskey tax was rescinded in 1802 when the Republican party came into power.
There were three significant protests in the eighteenth-century American backcountry, March of the Paxton Boys, which were Scots-Irish frontiersmen from Pennsylvania who created a group in 1763 reacting towards local native Americans during the aftereffects of the French and Indian War as well as Pontiac’s Rebellion; Shays’ Rebellion, which were a chain of protest by American farmers from New Hampshire to South Carolina against local and state enforcement of law and tax enforcement; and Whiskey Rebellion, which was the protest against Washington’s taxation on whiskey.
Because of those three protests not only did the American government and laws changed, but peoples views and lifestyles changed as well.
